The Parting Glass
by StardustSoul
Summary: Audrey McCarthy, the daughter of a well respected scientist, survives a tragic plane crash and loses her family in the process. This first takes place just before the virus went completely global at the CDC. Confused, Audrey struggles to survive in a new environment. Later, she is lucky to meet up with a group of survivors, who take her in. Daryl Dixon X OC
1. Prologue

**A/N: **This is not my first fanfic I've ever written, but it's my first that I've written on this site. I hope you enjoy the story!

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**Prologue.**

Audrey McCarthy sat impatiently at Gate B. She had already seen three planes take off to wherever their destination was. She couldn't hear over the intercom to where the planes were, what time it was, or anything like that. She had turned the iPod's volume all the way up. She was still mad at the fact that her father was dragging her and her mother to yet another international science convention. Frustrated, her knee bounced repeatedly and her fingers tapped on the arm rest of the chair she was sitting in. Audrey's father glanced down at her and shook his head.

"Audrey..." He said sternly. No reply. "Audrey." He said a little more firm. Still no reply. He sighed deeply and frowned. He shook her shoulder and she turned her head to look at him.

Obviously annoyed, Audrey took out her earphones and replied, "What?"

"For Christ's sake Audrey, you're 23 years old now. You're not 16. Stop acting like a spoiled teenager." He retorted, giving her a look that an embarrassed father would.

She just rolled her eyes again. "What are we even waiting for anyways? We've been waiting for almost two whole ho-" She was cut off.

"Professor McCarthy." A man in a very expensive looking suit walked up to Audrey's father as he stood up. He nodded and he and they mysterious man walked off far enough to not be in hearing distance. The two men exchanged words back and forth silently. She sighed frustrated and turned her head away not catching the surprised, yet concerned look her father had given the man.

"Brad..." Audrey tapped on the shoulder of another man in a suit. "When are we leaving?" She asked.

"As soon as your father is done talking with that man." Brad replied.

"We don't even know him!" Audrey exclaimed. "I thought you were assigned to my father to protect him? Yet you let him go off with some stranger?" She scoffed. "Some bodyguard." Brad had stayed silent.

Brad had been assigned as Professor McCarthy's personal bodyguard by the DoD for 16 years. Audrey had only been 7 when they met. He was to obey Professor McCarthy only. When Audrey was 15 and talking about boys, her father changed the priorities of Brad's job. Audrey, Fiona, and then himself. The Professor wanted his daughter and wife to be taken care of at all costs. Though this crossed the boundaries of Brad's job, he obeyed.

"I'm making sure you're safe..." Brad simply stated quietly. She sighed and understood. Audrey was used to having Brad around all the time. Through high school he was never more than a 150ft radius of her. And through College, the leash was loosened to a 200ft radius. And when she went to work or anywhere for that matter... Brad was always there. Audrey's lips curved, making the smallest of smiles thinking of all the good times she and Brad did have, despite that he hung with her like a shadow. She was an only child... and Brad was her big brother figure.

"I think I'm safe in a chair." She joked. He stayed put. Audrey glanced at her father once more to see if there was any signs of the conversation starting to end. She only made out a bunch of nods and sighs. She furrowed her brow and looked for a reason to walk around. Ah-ha! "Uhm... Brad. I'm going to use the bathroom." Audrey stated as she stood up. He nodded and got up. They both walked to the restroom and she went in while he waited a few feet from the door.

Audrey washed her hands. Not really having any purpose or need to be in the restroom. She glanced up at her reflection in the mirror. Lack of sleep overwhelmed her physique. She yawned and shook her head to "wake up" a little more. Behind her a flight attendant stepped out of the bathroom stall, looking a hell of a lot worse than Audrey. She actually looked so bad that Audrey was startled as she took a couple steps back. The woman smiled weakly and coughed up a small laugh. Her eyes were sunken in and her skin was pale and clammy looking. Her hair was pulled back and up into a bun that needed more effort to make look better than it had before.

"I look that bad huh?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Her eyes glazed as if she was on the verge of passing out. Audrey looked at her sympathetically. She was at a loss for words. "It's okay... I've been running a fever for a day or two now... I think this will be my last flight though, I'll rest it off when we land in Georgia." She was flying with a fever? Audrey seemed nervous, but she understood. Audrey had went to school and work before when she was sick. It was just something that would pass.

The flight attendant rolled up her sleeves as she approached the sink to wash her hands. Audrey noticed a bandage around the woman's arm. Blood seeping through. She gulped. Not wanting to ask about it, she patted the girl on her back, "I hope you feel better soon..." Audrey said sincerely as she walked out of the bathroom. She walked over to Brad quickly and she grabbed his arm, "Let's go." She ordered as she walked briskly to her mother and father. The mystery man was gone, and her father looked pale as a ghost, nervous. Her mother looking at her husband sympathetically. She didn't know what was going on either.

"Brad. We need to get to the CDC as soon as the convention is over." Her father stated standing up as their message to board came over the intercom. Brad nodded, grabbing all the carry-on luggage he could.

"FINALLY." Audrey said as she pulled her purse over her shoulder and shuffled quickly to the line to board the plane.

"Passport and ticket please." the man at the front of the line said as he held his hand out without looking up. Audrey handed both of the items to him and smiled. The man looked up and smiled as he stamped the passport. "Oh! Ms. McCarthy. I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you. Nice of you to be flying with us again!" The man said happily.

"Yup! Another convention, another new country." She said trying to sound excited. "America."

"This is the seventh one in the last couple of months." He stated. It was true. She had been dragged around all over the world to these conventions. China, Japan, Russia, India, Germany, and France. Now it was America. She had never been so jet lagged in her life. Something was wrong, but she just didn't know what it was. She'd always be left in the convention to roam around with Brad and her mother while her father spent all day in the conference rooms with other professors, doctors, scientists, and whoever else was in there. "Well Ms. McCarthy, you have a good flight now." He smiled and she smiled back walking forward.

Audrey found herself walking up to another flight attendant. "McCarthy." She simply stated. The flight attendant smiled and replied.

"Welcome back! First class, Ms. McCarthy." her smile faded when Audrey passed her not even listening to the rest of her sentence. She wasn't normally like this. She was just so tired. Flight, after flight. It had been hell for Audrey. It had been the same shit with all these conventions. It even seemed like the same people were always there too after the first couple of conventions. She was excited the first time, but now she wanted to pursue her career in the military hospital. She earned her degree and everything. It seemed to her as soon as she graduated from the university she was pulled around all over the world, all for her father's reasons that were still very unknown to her.

Audrey found her seat and plopped her purse down along with herself. Thank God for first class, Audrey thought to herself as she closed her eyes for a moment. Her parents soon joined her. Audrey opened her eyes as she saw her father, mother, and Brad take their seats. She was just about to close her eyes again when she saw something more interesting than the back of her eyelids. A bite mark? Audrey blinked hard and saw the same flight attendant that she met in the bathroom changing her bandage nearby. The flight attendant looked a little worse than before. Audrey felt for her. She made a silent prayer in her head for the flight attendant to feel better.

_DEE-DOO. _"Welcome and thank you for choosing Delta Airlines. We will be departing in 10 minutes. ETA is 13 hours and 45 minutes from Glasgow, Scotland, UK to Atlanta, Georgia, US. Flight attendants will direct you through the emergency procedures before we take off. Thank you again for choosing Delta Airlines. Once again, departing in 10 minutes. Please relax and enjoy your flight." _DEE-DOO. _Audrey had heard those announcements far too many times. She sat through the emergency procedures and take-off before she drifted into sleep.

Audrey woke up from her nap feeling well rested. She pulled Brads arm up and looked at his watch. 12 hours had gone by. She had slept through the whole damn flight. No wonder it didn't feel like so much as a nap. They were already in Georgia. She looked out the window in amazement. "America..." She breathed out to herself fogging up the glass. She drew a smiley face and thought to herself that maybe this convention wouldn't be so bad. She stood up and kissed her mother and father on the cheek and smiled. Brad and her parents noticed that she was in an exceptionally better mood. Audrey trotted off to the restroom. As she walked off she bumped into the same flight attendant. She looked like she was dying! Audrey looked shocked as the woman held on to her. She was a million degrees. Audrey and the woman fell backwards. "Help!" Audrey yelled out. Two other flight attendants rushed over and looked at their co-worker in shock.

"Oh my... I knew she was sick... I didn't know it would be this bad." one of them said sadly. Brad ran over hearing Audrey. He pulled her out from underneath the woman.

"Brad! Something's wrong with her!" Audrey clenched on to Brad's suit desperately. "She needs help. Where's Dad!?" She shook Brad as she ran back to where her father was. The other flight attendants rushed over to the curtains that separated the coach flyers from the first class flyers and closed them to limit the panic of the passengers. Brad looked over his shoulder to the flight attendant on the ground. She was unconscious. He grabbed her arm and felt her neck and to his surprise, he found no pulse. He let go of her arm and saw blood seeping through. He took the liberty to further investigate, lifting her sleeve and removing the bandage. He found a bite wound. A good amount of flesh was taken off and it was infected.

"Can you tell one of the pilots?" He asked one of the flight attendants. She nodded and ran off to the cockpit. She returned shortly with the co-pilot. He frowned at the state of the flight attendant.

"Oh Jess..." He breathed out sadly. "Get her up, she needs to be away from the passengers. Get her away from making a scene. He picked her up and carried her to the cockpit. Audrey and her father walked up to Brad who looked shocked. Brad walked briskly to the cockpit and caught the door before it shut.

"She isn't breathing! What do you think you're doing?!" Brad looked at the co-pilot like he was crazy. Audrey's father held his hand up and motioned Audrey to stay put as he walked up slowly behind Brad.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Professor McCarthy. This woman. She's not breathing she's injured." Brad informed him.

"Injured? What kind of injury?" He questioned, nervous of the answer.

"A bite wound, but that's not important. She isn't breathing!" Brad tried his best to stay calm. He wasn't one to just sit by and let people die or become injured, regardless if he was assigned to them as their bodyguard or not.

Audrey had not stayed put like her father implied. "Daddy! She had a fever before she fell. I met her in the bathroom! She's sick! Do something! Anything!" She exclaimed in a panic. Her father looked shocked. He was in a different world. He knew something that they didn't.

"Sir! She isn't BREATHING!" Brad tried to tell the co-pilot again.

"Look sir. I know you're concerned but there isn't anything we can do about it right now. We'll be landing in fifteen minutes, so just take a seat and we'll get her to a hospital as soon as we land!" The co-pilot shot back at Brad.

"What?" Audrey looked behind the co-pilot. "She... She's alive!" Audrey's eyes filled with hope as she saw Jess the flight attendant stand up. She still looked sickly though, and even worse before she passed out. Her skin pasty and pale. She looked cold and grey.

"Uuunngghh." Was all Jess could make out. The co-pilot turned around and looked at her, relieved but nervous. She shuffled and stumbled her way to him slowly.

"Hey Jess. You were out for a second." He said soothingly as he extended his arm to help her walk. "You can go and rest until we land, we'll get you to a hospital afterwa-AAAAHH!" Jess grabbed onto his arm and sunk her teeth into it, ripping the flesh off and covering her face in his blood. Panicked, the captain who was flying looked back in horror. Brad took Audrey and her father by the arm and ran them back to their seats. He sat them both down and they buckled up. Audrey sat in shock. The color in her face disappearing. She could not un-see what she just witnessed. She was confused and upset. She wanted to help. She gripped on to Brad and looked at her father and mother.

"Daddy... What... What was that?" She managed to stutter out, wide-eyed and horrified. He only sat there and muttered to himself.

"This can't be happening. It shouldn't have spread this quick... It's going to be global now? This can't be. We need more time. Something's not right."

"Honey! What happened?!" Audrey's mother clenched onto her husband's arm. "Darling?" She asked as she got no response. Then the plane shook violently. Screams were coming from all the passengers, babies were crying, and alarms were going off. They were only ten minutes from landing Audrey thought. Then it hit her... The plane was crashing. She clutched onto Brad as tears began to fill her eyes. Her mind was shaking, she couldn't see straight. She saw her father and mother unbuckle and struggled to walk over to Brad and Audrey. They both cupped her face and kissed her face.

What were they doing?! They were unbuckled out of their seats. It was obvious that no one could survive this crash. But Audrey had hoped for the best, that maybe, it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe they would survive. Maybe they would walk out of it together. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe it was...

Her thoughts ended and the impact came and cut off of her thoughts.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: **If you've made it this far, YES! I'm happy. Sorry, but Daryl does NOT show up in this chapter. But the NEXT chapter.

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**Chapter 1.**

****"Hnng." Audrey groaned in pain as she woke up. Was it a dream? God, she hoped it was. She squinted her eyes open. Her heart broke. It was not a dream. She didn't know if she wanted to move or not. Her eyes adjusted to the bright sun... She felt more shitty than ever. Her head was pounding. "Mom... Dad..." She called out quietly trying to get up. A sharp pain shot through her body as she stood up right. She reached down her torso to the pain. A rod shaped piece of metal, debris from the plane had been lodged into her side. She wanted to scream out in pain, but she was just too shocked. She clenched her teeth, and silently cried as she tried to brace herself on a larger piece of debris.

"God... What do I do?" She whimpered to herself. She wished she knew where everyone was. She felt shell shocked. She knew one thing was positive, she had a concussion. Her headache would not go away. But she had to do something. She wasn't sure if she was going to be rescued or if she was going to die of blood loss. She tried to remember what needed to be done back in nursing school for the kind of injury she had gotten. She looked down again, the debris had gone straight through her. She wanted to faint. Her stomach knotted, and she felt a lump in her throat. Audrey frowned and tears fell from her eyes.

Fuck it. She thought to herself. She took three shaky, deep breaths. She clenched onto the rod shaped debris and yanked it out as hard as she could. She almost vomited hearing it rip through her flesh, causing it to bleed more and she almost fainted from looking at the hole in her side. She applied as much pressure as possible and looked around some more. Pieces of the plane were everywhere. It looked as if they crashed near a highway and a field. She could tell there was a city in the distance. It was close, driving there. But it would take her a while if she were to walk there. She prayed someone would come save her. Audrey walked around for a few minutes before the pain took over. Her emotions were everywhere. She fell to her knees and sobbed loudly. She wanted to die right there. There was no sign that anyone was alive. She didn't find her parents near by, even though she didn't look very far. What she saw was enough to know that she was the only one. Still folded over, she looked up and tried to really take in the damage.

Bodies were either tossed far out, burned, or impaled. Luggage was everywhere and certain areas of the crash had caught fire. Hope drained from her and she curled up again sobbing. She laid there for what seemed to be like hours, but really only a few minutes. She heard heavy footsteps coming towards her. Audrey tensed, afraid of what or who was coming her way. Her ears perked up as she heard a voice... And it wasn't just any voice, but Brad's.

"A-Audrey!" He called out. He ran to where he had left her in the seat. He was worried to find that she was gone.

"Brad?!" Audrey called back to him hopeful. Maybe her parents were with him. "Brad! I'm over here! Help!" Audrey had no more strength to move. She heard Brad's footsteps come closer. She looked up at him in shock. His arm was covered in blood and he had a gash on the top of his head. The blood on his face had dried and looked like it started to crack.

"Audrey! Thank God! I thought you were eaten by them!" Brad fell to his knees in front of Audrey he held a small blanket in his hands that he found from the crash. He wrapped it tightly around Audrey's torso to help with the bleeding.

"Eaten? By who? What? Brad! What's going on?" Audrey's face was in a panic. She wanted to know what was going on.

"You don't remember?" Brad looked at her worried. Audrey shook her head and looked down. "After the crash, there were more survivors. But that Jess girl... The flight attendant, she... she bit them after we crashed. They all started to eat each other. You passed out again when you realized what was happening. I carried you away and we hid." Audrey couldn't believe what she was hearing. She desperately wanted all of this to be a nightmare. She wanted all of this to be anything but reality.

"But... No... What about Mom and Dad...?" Audrey asked wanting, yet not wanting to know the answer. Brad looked down sadly at her. He didn't need to say anything. She knew they were gone. She cried out loud letting the tears and snot fall freely where ever they fell. Brad held her lightly, trying to comfort her and not hurt her from the wound.

"From observation, once bitten, you become one of them... I don't know. But your father... He survived. He... He told me to take his briefcase to the CDC. Told me to give it to the people at the CDC." Brad explained to her. Audrey looked up and shook her head.

"Then where is he? You said he survived!" Audrey slowly tried to get up. Brad frowned again. He even looked a bit teary eyed. He felt as if he was breaking Audrey's heart.

Brad swallowed hard. "He... Uh... He didn't make it. When your mother turned. He stayed with her... soon, he did too." Brad wasn't exactly sure what he saw. He was confused as well. Maybe not so much confused as Audrey, but he knew something sick was going on. Audrey took all of this information in. Jess in the bathroom at the airport in Scotland. The fever. The bite. All of it. Her father KNEW about this. It all clicked. "Audrey look... It's not safe here. I've been to the CDC before, we need to either find help, or travel to the CDC as fast as possi-"

"If you knew it wasn't safe here why did you leave me unconscious!?" Audrey questioned Brad. She was in a state of trauma. She was screaming at Brad telling him how stupid he was. Brad stared at Audrey, hurt. He never saw her like this. She left him no room to explain himself. "You fucking jerk! How could you?! Why didn't you protect my Dad like you were SUPPOSED to?! Isn't that your job?! You're his bodyguard! BRAD!" Audrey was cut off by Brad grabbing her firmly by the shoulders and shaking her.

"Look! I did it to protect you! Whatever they turned into, they like fresh blood and flesh. I had to lead them away!" Brad explained himself as he motioned to his cut up arm. He had cut into himself. Audrey's face washed over with guilt. She felt horrible for yelling at him and blaming him. She didn't know how to apologize for what she said. She simply stared at him wide-eyed and more tears fell from her face. She touched his injured arm. Brad seemed to have no expression. He helped her to her feet and they walked back to where she first woke up.

Brad had managed to find a satchel and stuff food, water, and other supplies in the bag. While he did that, Audrey clung to her father's briefcase. She was lost in her own thoughts until she stumbled on the time. She looked up and called out to Brad who hurriedly rushed over to her. "How long was I out? What day is it?" She asked.

Brad gave her a look and then realized that the crash had happened a while ago and still no one came to help. "Two days..." He said disappointed. If no one came to help after two days, they wouldn't expect any help at all. Audrey felt weak. Once she was aware of how long her body had been in trauma, she felt even worse. She felt hungry, tired, filthy, and scared. Brad put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "We should probably get moving..." He said as he started towards the road.

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After hours of walking, Audrey began to doubt Brad's sense of direction. She tried to bite her tongue. She didn't want to seem rude, after all he cut up his arm to save her life. Come to think of it, Brad did everything for Audrey. Whether he wanted to or not. She realized that his duties only applied to her father. If her father died, Brad didn't have to listen to anyone. He could have left her to die... but he didn't. Audrey stayed quiet, mentally thanking Brad for every single thing that he'd done for her.

The sun was setting, as they were walking closer to a campus. Audrey shielded her eyes. The beams of the sun were reflecting off the big glass building. There were military tanks parked out front. There was a riot going on just outside the gates of the campus. Brad sighed in relief and worry. He was happy he wasn't wrong about the direction they were going, but he was also nervous as to how he was going to get past the riot and even worse, the security. Something was definitely wrong...

As they both neared the gates people were shouting loudly at the military men who had stood their ground. "You can't do this to us with these THINGS out there! They're going to kill us!" A man shouted.

"What about the children?! The pregnant women!? We NEED answers!" A woman cried out. Brad tensed as he made his way through the crowd, keeping Audrey close.

"Someone help my husband! Please! He was only scratched!" Another woman called out for help and one of the men in uniform broke ranks, aimed, and shot the woman's husband right between the eyes. The group was shocked and they screamed taking a few steps backwards.

"Let us in!" They all screamed. "We need help!" A majority of the crowd proceeded once again. Brad walked up to the main man in charge of the gate. Brad and the man exchanged words and Brad showed him the contents of the briefcase. Audrey held tight to Brad's arm with one hand, and clutched her satchel with the other.

"Let these two through!" The man shouted and two men escorted them through the gate. The crowd grew violent and their volume grew.

"WHAT THE HELL?! That's not fair!"  
"WHAT DID THEY DO TO GET IN?!"  
"LET US IN NOW!"  
"WE NEED HELP!"

Audrey turned her head slightly to look behind her shoulder. She saw the betrayal, hatred, jealousy, and fear in the eyes of the crowd. She turned to look forward when Brad put his arm around her shoulder.

When they got inside the building, things were a lot more quiet. Things seemed... normal. Audrey looked around and for the first time, gave a sigh of relief. Two people in lab coats approached Audrey and Brad. "Hello. I'm Dr. Edwin Jenner. This is Dr. Rene Holloway" he introduced themselves. Audrey nodded and Brad gave them a half smile. "Welcome to the CDC." Dr. Jenner extended his arm presented the building. "I'm aware that you have something for me that Professor McCarthy was working on?" He looked at Brad.

Brad nodded. "Yes. He gave it to me moments before he passed away." Brad said informatively. He glanced at Audrey, then back at Dr. Jenner. "However... this briefcase now belongs to his now only living relative, Ms. Audrey McCarthy." Brad said putting a gentle hand on Audrey's shoulder. She nodded and breathed out heavily. Dr. Jenner looked over and frowned slightly at her.

"I understand then. I will take whatever it is that Ms. McCarthy is willing to part with. I'll make sure it is in good hands. And most of all, put to good use." Dr. Jenner stated. "In the mean time, before we let you into the quarters, we need blood samples. You also need to go through decontamination and the screening process." Audrey looked up at Brad and he gave her a reassuring look. They both agreed. "Excellent. Dr. Holloway, if you could take Ms. McCarthy? I'll escort Brad here then." Dr. Holloway nodded and ushered Audrey up a set of stairs.

"I'll see you soon Audrey." Brad called out as he was lead away by Dr. Jenner.

* * *

"So... Agent Brad..." Brad had just walked in from decontamination. Brad was all clean and his wounds were taken care of. He sat in the chair across from Dr. Jenner and placed his arms on the table. Dr. Jenner shuffled through some paper work, he had pulled his file through the systems. "What... is your first name?" He smirked. "Because it's not Brad if you're a bodyguard."

Brad raised his eyebrow and sighed. Damn screening process. He thought to himself. He answered honestly though. "Justin. My name is Justin Brad." He gave a half smile. A little embarrassed. He felt like he had been caught for lying. But that was just what the DoD did for his identity. Brad just happened to be his last name as well. He ran his hand through his damp, dark brown hair. He looked at Dr. Jenner.

"So... she doesn't even know your first name?" Dr. Jenner gave him an amused look.

"She doesn't need to. She isn't authorized that kind of information." Brad shot back. "She can call me Brad till the day I die." He stated.

"Fair enough..." Dr. Jenner sighed and the screening continued. Making sure he was who he says he was. Questions and answers flew back and forth.

"Age?"

"36."

"Birthday?"

"May 28th, 1976."

"Place of birth?"

"Seattle, Washington."

"Mother's maiden name?"

"Leanne Black."

The process lasted a good forty-five minutes. Taking his height, weight, and writing down obvious physical observations such as eye and hair color. The same went for Audrey with Dr. Holloway.

"Age?"

"23."

"Birthday?"

"August 31st, 1989."

"Place of birth?"

"Edinburgh, Scotland, UK."

"Mother's maiden name?"

"Fiona Anne Murphy."

"Are you a legal resident of the United States?"

Audrey then began to tell her story about the plane crash, Jess, and the science convention. Dr. Holloway gave her a sympathetic look.

"Look... I know who your father is... I worked with him numerous times. He was a good man..." She said meaningfully, feeling a little pain in her heart hearing the cause of his death. "I can promise you that his work won't be in vain. We'll make things right with his research..." Dr. Holloway reassured Audrey. She could only smile up at her and nod. She was still uncomfortable and shaken up. Dr. Holloway scribbled down her height and weight down quickly as well as her eye and hair color.

After the screening process, Audrey and Brad reunited. She hugged him and he rubbed her back. Comforting her. They were showed their rooms and given new sets of clothes. Audrey and Brad parted again, knowing they'd meet once more around dinner time. Audrey examined her room. Thankful for her new clothes. They were hand me downs from the other female scientists. Leaving the CDC was not an option for anyone living in the quarters. She looked at herself in the full body mirror. She had tied her long light brown hair back into a low ponytail. Her once bright green eyes were now a dull forest green. Her bags under her eyes had bags on them. She sighed. The only good thing she liked about herself was the clothes she was given. A nice office skirt and a pretty green blouse. Along with a pair of comfy flats.

Audrey lifted her shirt up to examine her wound. They had fixed her up pretty good. The bandages were fresh and she was given a set of really good pain killers to help with the pain. She looked at herself again and tried to smile. Maybe she would feel better. She tried flashing out different smiles. After 5 or 6 different smiles she felt like a total idiot and gave up. She sat down on her bed and ran her hand over the edge of her father's briefcase.

"What were you working on?" She mumbled lowly to herself.

1603. 0112. She entered the numbers on the combination pads and it clicked. She took a deep breath before slowly opening the briefcase. Loose papers were sticking out of numerous folders and journals. His CDC of Scotland badge was on the upper part of the briefcase. As was numerous pictures of Audrey, her mother, and himself. Memories of them altogether. There was a photo of Audrey at her graduation from Glasgow University. And another at her first job when she was only 17. She worked at a ice cream parlor/bakery. Baked Ice. She smiled remembering her life before it all fell apart. She gathered all the personal belongings in the briefcase and set it aside. She shifted through the research her father had done. Audrey only understood a little under half of what he was reporting. She sat until dinner time, reading about this virus and how it spreads. The reanimation of the human body. She read until her eyes crossed and her head was pounding. She shut the briefcase and all the research contents in it. She stood up quickly and walked briskly to Brad's room, taking the briefcase with her. She knocked twice and it only took him less than 5 seconds to answer.

"Care for dinner?"She asked as she smiled up at him. She tried really hard to be at least relieved that she knew what was going on. Sadness still tugged at her stomach and heart. But she tried to stay as strong as she could. Brad nodded and they walked down the hall to the Dining Facility. "So this virus... once you get bitten, you get this massive fever. All the symptoms of being sick. Which is why it's easily to mistake the virus for something that will pass..." She explained to Brad. He was trying hard to keep up with her. "Well, after the fever... you're in so much pain, and then soon enough... you pass away. Then... moments later you come back. And only a certain part of you is still alive and you _turn_ into one of them. You get infected." Audrey caught up her thoughts with her words.

This is what happened to her mother... This is what happened to her father. Her stomach knotted up again. She frowned and her vision blurred with tears, threatening to fall from her eyes. "They..." Audrey started. Brad held her and she leaned her head on his chest. "They aren't coming back..." She sobbed out. Audrey dropped the suitcase and cried, mourning her parents death. Brad didn't know what to say. All he ever knew was to keep her safe... not comfort her when she was hurt emotionally. He held her hair and rubbed her back. After a few moments she recollected herself and looked down at the briefcase. "I... I have to give this to Dr. Jenner. There's things that I don't understand. Some of this still makes no sense... Maybe he... he can fix it. They can fix it. They have to..." Audrey backed away from Brad and she bent down to pick up the briefcase. They entered the DFAC and saw Dr. Jenner and Dr. Holloway discussing something over their dinner. They hushed when they saw Brad and Audrey walk through. Audrey looked to the side and gave a flat look. She knew that they were talking about the both of them. She brushed it off and walked over with the briefcase. She sat it down in front of Dr. Jenner. He smiled and reached for it. And just as quickly as Audrey put the briefcase down, she lifted it back up.

"I'll give you my father's research." She said sternly. He nodded vigorously. He was anxious to see Dr. McCarthy's work. "In return... You tell me everything. And if I find out that you're holding out on me... I'll burn the rest of his research. You start off with one folder at a time. And once I'm satisfied with the answers you give me... you can have his journal." Audrey's eyes pierced through Dr. Jenner. He gave her a look and stared at the briefcase, contemplating her offer.

He took a deep breath and smiled up at her. "I agree." He held his hand out to shake on it. Audrey eyed it and nodded.

"You need to fix whatever the hell this is." She said and shook his hand. Opening the briefcase and pulling out the first folder. She handed it to Dr. Jenner and turned on her heel grabbing a plate and filling it up with food. She was still sick to her stomach, but she hadn't eaten in days, and she knew that she would feel a little better if she ate a little bit. Brad sat next to her and set a glass of water in front of her. She nodded and thanked him. She glanced and Dr. Jenner who was feasting over the new information about the virus that was going around. His expressions were shocked, amused, and fearful. But his eyes read straight into his soul. He was hopeful. His hope had been boosted and he thought that Professor McCarthy's work was the key to save the human race.

After dinner Audrey was exhausted. She picked up a book from the wreck room and sneaked it away into her room. Fahrenheit 451. She hadn't read this book since she was a senior in high school. She was surprised to find a book like this in a CDC building. She didn't question it any further. She got lost in her book laying back on her bed. The more she read through the book... the more her eyelids became heavier. Audrey rested the open book on her face and breathed in and out slowly. She closed her eyes and drifted into sleep... Dreaming of the days where life was simply... better.

* * *

**A/N: **Once again, sorry Daryl and the gang aren't here yet. But the next chapter they will arrive! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thanks so much for the follows everyone. This story is till pretty new, but I'm glad I got some of you hooked on it on only the first couple chapters!

* * *

**Chapter 2.**

It had been months since Audrey and Brad had moved into the CDC. Things had only gotten worse. The population of the infected had well out numbered the population of the _healthy_. The virus had spread globally. Audrey was growing impatient with the results Dr. Jenner and the rest of the scientists were giving her. Audrey had become a borderline alcoholic.

_CRASH._

"NO! Dr. Jennuh. I don think ya ready ta see the next folduh! What you've given me is BULLSHIT!" She had thrown an empty liquor bottle at the wall in his office. Her Irish/Scottish accent was more thick when she drank.

Dr. Jenner leaned back in his chair worried that the next thing that Audrey threw would be aimed for his head. She was clearly drunk. "Ms. McCarthy. That last folder only told me what I already knew. The brain stem is-"

"Ta hell with the brain stem! We've been stuck underground fuh months now and YOU want to fuckin' tell me 'bout the fuckin' BRAIN STEM?! I NEED FUCKIN' ANSWERS!" Audrey looked as if she was going to pull her hair out and light a fire under Dr. Jenner's ass. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, Brad had walked into the office, hearing Audrey complain about the results. This is the most shit faced she had been since she started her heavy drinking spiel. Brad walked over to her grabbing her arms.

"Oh?! Fuckin' Agent Brad here to save the fuckin' day AGAIN!" Audrey dug her face into Brad's chest. He sighed, disappointed that this is what the beautiful, promising Audrey McCarthy had become. He gave her a little credit though. She was always able to hold down her liquor. She never once threw up. Scottish to the end. He thought too soon as he picked her up and hucked her over his shoulder like he always did and she hurled right over his shoulder. He placed her down and wiped her face with his sleeve. He rubbed her back and held her hair over the trash bin in the office.

"I'm sorry..." He apologized to Dr. Jenner who only sat there and nodded. Clearly stressed but used to Audrey and her drunk self. She was a sweetheart deep down. But on the weekends or on really bad weekdays, she'd turn into a real hot headed bitch. She knew it too. And every hang over she vowed to never drink again. And every time she drank she said to hell with her vow. After violating Dr. Jenner's waste basket she sat up looking at him, her eyes watery, and her throat and nose stinging. She pouted when she walked over to the briefcase. She unlocked it and turned it over to Dr. Jenner.

"I'm only goin' ta unlock this case once ya hear me? If yer smart you'd pull out everything you need and never go inta this thing again. Just fuckin' fix everything." She said sobbing. Still drunk. Dr. Jenner gave her a concerned look. He nodded and dug into his desk drawer. He tossed a bottle of Aspirin to Brad. Who nodded and gave a small smile.

"We will do everything we can..." He said as Brad walked Audrey out. They walked passed Jenner's wife Candace, who was on her way to his office.

"Hey sweetie- Oh God!" Candace was surprised to see the broken glass bottle of Fireball and vomit on the floor and in the waste basket. Papers were flown everywhere and stuff on his desk was knocked over. Candace gave her husband a worried look and walked over to him, helping him clean his office. "She's... going through a lot right now..." She said trying to reason.

"We all are. The whole God damn world is ending Candace! That girl's blood is all alcohol. No virus infected person is gonna want to bite into that one!" He said frustrated violently picking up his papers.

"Edwin! How could you say that! That's... That's Professor McCarthy's-"

"I don't care who she is! She's pushing everyone to the limit!" He argued. "The only person she ever listens to is Agent Brad!"

"Edwin... Did she give you the briefcase?" She asked walking over to his desk completely ignoring his complaints. She picked up the journal and shuffled through it. Wide-eyed she was shocked at the information. Dr. Jenner walked over to her picking up the new research.

"It's... It's a goldmine!" Dr. Jenner and his wife read through the information in their lab. He completely forgot about the drunken Audrey. The world was looking up he thought. He and his wife rejoiced and turned in to celebrate their newly given research.

* * *

"Fuck..." Audrey had woken up the next day with a pounding headache. Thank goodness they lived underground. She thought to herself. There was never any harsh lighting in the living quarters. Only in the research and experimental labs.

"So you're awake..." She head Brad say. "And sober I hope." He laughed a bit. She made a gross look when she burped. The gas burning her nose and throat, alcohol and vomit.

"God... I need to brush my teeth." She stood up slowly and shuffled her way down the hall to the bathroom with her towel and personal hygiene items. She figured she would take a shower too. Brad walked to the DFAC to gather some food for Audrey. He figured with her hung over like this she wouldn't want to eat in the DFAC. A few other scientists were sitting around eating food when one of them spoke up.

"Don't you ever get tired of taking care of her?" one of them asked. Brad tensed.

"Yeah, she's been a bit of a handful lately... even in the infirmary, she's still a little off balance..." The other one said.

"It's my job to protect her." He simply stated. They scoffed. He looked at them a little pissed off.

"What are you, pro bono bodyguard now?" One of them laughed. "You aren't getting paid." They both laughed nudging each other.

"You've even had to share a room with her since she got all crazy." The other one said "And you're not even getting laid!"

"Well as far as I'm concerned, neither are you. The whole world is gone to shit and the only thing you're thinking about is if we all are still getting paid from the jobs we do and getting laid?" They shut up real quick. Looking down at their food, avoiding eye contact. "I protect Audrey McCarthy and take care of her from the good of my heart. She's all I've got and I'm all she's got. She's like a little sister to me and I'll be damned if I let you talk about her that way. What the fuck do you have?" He said icily. His words felt like fire in their ears. He was right... They stayed silent and he stormed out of the DFAC back to their room. He was really shocked in himself that he had said that.

Ever since he graduated high school he was recruited into working with the DoD. He had no living relatives. He was on his own. All the other agents as well. His family was the McCarthy's... Having Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy death hurt him just as much as it hurt Audrey. It had been such a long time since he expressed so much emotion. His training had conditioned him into showing close to no emotion. Just to focus on the task he was given. But in these days... there was no task. And he really didn't have much a of a life before this whole apocalypse. He just stalked Audrey since he was 21 basically. Watched over her... he watched Audrey grow into a beautiful young woman. She was respectable, level headed, smart, and caring. How did it get this bad? He thought to himself. He buried his head in his hands and thought about what life used to be like.

After a while he heard the bedroom door open and close. Audrey stood there, clean and sober. She looked a lot better. Hell, she felt a lot better too. "I grabbed some food for you..." Brad said without looking up. She rubbed her hand on his back and picked up the piece of toast, sitting next to Brad with her back against the wall.

"You okay Brad?" She asked with a mouthful of toast, concern still noticeable in her tone. He only sighed deeply and nodded.

"Yeap..." He said weakly. "I'm just tired I guess." He lied giving her a half smile. He missed the old days of fancy suits and being an actual bodyguard. His guns had been concealed in the weapons room. He missed his weekends where he would practice shooting down at the range. He laid back on the bed, his legs dangled off the side of the bed. He looked up at Audrey. She frowned and swallowed her toast.

"Look... I know I can be a handful when I'm drunk..." She began. He closed his eyes... hearing this speech one too many times before. He stopped her before she could continue. He shook his head.

"Audrey... I don't want to stop being your bodyguard." He started. "I honestly don't care if you're a handful. To be honest, you were a handful at the age of 13 when I had to take you and your friends to the fair. Too much slushies and elephant ears and roller coasters still leads you to throwing up and throwing a fit." She smiled and looked down feeling guilty. She knew she gave him the 'I'm Sorry' speech too many times before. He was beginning to doubt her. "Audrey... Think about it. What you're doing to yourself. Do you think your mother and father would have wanted this for you?" What he said hit her right at home. She looked taken back. It was the first time anyone had mentioned her parents since the first month they moved into the CDC. Tears welled up in her eyes. She always thought about them... She always looked through her pictures... but she never really talked about them. Tears fell from her eyes and onto her lap when she looked down... embarrassed.

"I... I'm sorry!" She cried more as she wiped the tears away from her face. "I don't mean to get drunk all the time..." She said quietly. Brad sat up beside her and wrapped his arm around her.

"I know... I know you don't. I just want you to start making better choices for yourself. It's not like you can go out for a run around the neighborhood Audrey. The world is different. There's a lot of doctors here, but they can't always take care of you if you get alcohol poisoning or if you get sick. They're working on a cure." Brad explained.

"I know! I just feel so useless! I can't help! I don't have anything but daddy's research! I don't know what to do Brad..." Audrey whined into her hands. He rubbed her shoulders in comfort.

"You need to take care of yourself Audrey. Don't give people a reason to worry... Give them time to work on a cure. You need to be patient and understanding. Is that clear?" Brad looked her in the eyes. She looked up at him and nodded. He smiled with relief and held her and let her cry it out some more.

Later on that day, Audrey went into the infirmary to study nursing and healthcare. Most of her time at the CDC was spent increasing her knowledge of the human body. And if she wasn't doing that, she was resenting and getting drunk. She stuck to her books the rest of the day, praying in the back of her mind that she would be able to turn a new leaf of sobriety.

* * *

Saturday morning she had slept in. It was 11AM when she was woken up by screams and running. She looked around her bedroom. Brad was gone and worry and fear struck into her mind. She jolted out of bed and ran into the hallway. Was there infected people in the CDC? It was impossible. TS-17 and TS-18 were the only infected things in the CDC and they weren't even alive anymore. She walked down the hallway and she climbed the staircase up to the surface. She hadn't been up to the surface in weeks. It was worse than when she last saw it. The mob that was at the front gate had turned into a a hoard of infected people. The military security had managed to take a lot of them out. Audrey saw scientists outside either fleeing to their car or committing suicide.

"What the fuck?" she looked closely walking towards the front doors. Dr. Jenner stood behind her on the staircase.

"I don't think you want to go out there..." He said tiredly. He looked like he had been up all night. He hadn't changed his clothes, brushed his hair or teeth, showered, or eaten. The hope that he had in his eyes months ago was drained. His face looked old and sunken in. She looked at him worriedly.

"Where's Brad?" She asked hesitantly.

"Outside..." Dr. Jenner answered as if Brad went outside to take a walk in the park. Audrey's eyes widened as she ran for the door. She looked to her right to see Dr. Holloway stumble towards the door. Her arms covered in blood. She had cut her wrists clean open.

"Rene!" Audrey ran for her instead of the door. She clamped her hands around Dr. Holloway's wrists. "Why?! What's going on?" Audrey looked up at her trying to stop the bleeding.

"No hope... No hope... No hope... No cure." Dr. Holloway repeated as tears fell from her eyes. "End it all. No hope." She said again. Audrey was confused. It had only been a few weeks since Dr. Jenner received the entire briefcase. That was years of research and he had already been able to go through it? Did he not find the answer? She heard gun shots and explosions outside. She looked over to see Brad shooting his guns at the infected crowd. Only a dozen or so remained. But he was the last one standing.

"Oh god Brad." She got up looking torn between Brad and Rene. If she let go, Dr. Holloway would surely die of blood loss. If she didn't try and get Brad, he could be eaten alive right in front of her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Candace run up and extend her arm out to one of the infected. She looked back at Brad and they nodded to each other. Once the infected had sunk their teeth into Dr. Jenner he shot the infected person in the face before it could pull a chuck of skin from Candace. He yanked her arm away and they ran back towards the CDC building.

Distracted, Audrey let her guard down and Rene burst through the doors as Brad and Dr. Jenner ran in. Rene faced Audrey and looked into her eyes through the glass doors. Audrey tried to run out to save her but Brad held her back. The already infected, catching the scent of fresh blood hurriedly shuffling and gimping along towards Rene. Audrey saw one of them grab her arm and bite into it just as the metal security doors closed in on the building. Audrey's knees gave out and she fell to the ground. Her vision blurring and soon, her whole world went black.

* * *

Brad gave Audrey a sad look and picked her up holding her close.

"Did you get bitten?" Dr. Jenner asked suspiciously.

"No." He replied. "Just... her." He said looking at his wife. She too had tears in her eyes. Candace held her bite wound tightly. Dr. Jenner looked at her in shock.

"Candace..." He said to her. He took his hand and cupped her face. He was shaking. They knew what this meant. "No..."

"Yes..." She confirmed. Tears still in her eyes. "I... I'm going to be TS-19." She stated to him. Dr. Jenner held his wife closely. He didn't want to let go. He held her as long as possible. "My love... containment." Was all she could say. She was scared, but she knew exactly what she got herself into.

They all headed down the stairs to prepare for TS-19.

* * *

Audrey came to only a few hours later. Brad had cleaned the blood off her arms and hands. She wasn't sure if what had happened was a bad dream, or if everything was real. She shot up in her bed. "Brad!" She called out looking around, relieved to see he was sitting in the chair next to her bed deep in thought. "You're safe?" she asked sitting on the edge of the bed. He nodded and smiled, thinking how grateful he was that he was still alive and safe. "Candace?" She asked worriedly. She knew what she saw out there. But she really didn't want to believe it. It was her first time seeing another one of those 'infected' people since Jess the flight attendant. She saw how many of them there were. She felt like she was living under a rock. To her, the CDC building might as well have been her rock that she lived under. Brad had seen and killed numerous of them before behind Audrey's back. He did all he could to help the troops out there protecting the CDC. It seemed that Brad knew a lot more than Audrey did these days.

"Candace..." Brad was having a hard time telling Audrey about the status of Dr. Jenner's wife. "Candace is..." He paused again taking a deep breath and swallowing hard. "Test subject 19." He said looking down sadly. Audrey looked at Brad with an extremely concerned look. There was no way... Audrey got up quickly and ran to the control room. She looked around, the more she ran through the corridors the more she began to realize how deserted it was.

She began to panic until she reached the containment room. She pulled on the bio-hazard suit and went through the decontamination chamber. She walked into the containment room and it was true. She watched Dr. Jenner stand over Candace. His hand caressing her cheek. Candace was strapped down tightly to the cold table. She had a hospital gown on. Wires were connected all over her body. Everything that was happening to her body was being recorded. Audrey's face became wet with tears. She stood back and let them have their moment exiting the room.

Audrey walked to her room again to find Brad right where she left him. She sat down on the bed and looked at him. "Where is everyone?" She asked nervously.

"I was afraid you were going to ask me that." Brad looked up at her. He looked disappointed and tired. He ran his hand over his face and sighed. "Professor McCarthy's research..." He mumbled into his hands as he leaned his head back. "His journal had bad news in it..." He started. He looked at her. She looked heartbroken. There was no way she could take more bad news. She sat there and waited for him to finish. "In his research he found that whatever is making them like that... it's in all of us. It's in you... me... Dr. Jenner. Everyone. Alive or dead. They don't need to be bitten." He breathed out.

Audrey's heart stopped. She had never felt so sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes and nodded. "So... We'll turn soon too?" She asked.

"Not necessarily." Brad reassured her. "Candace is positive that Dr. Jenner will find a cure. We don't turn until we pass away though." He said hopefully. Audrey's breath became shaky. "He gave everyone the option to stay or leave once the news was out. A lot of people were committing suicide right in the CDC, some people went fleeing to their families." Brad gave her the rundown on what she missed early this morning. "It's just Candace, Dr. Jenner, you, and me..." He said quietly. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She got up and walked out the door.

She needed to drink. She headed straight to the DFAC and grabbed another bottle of Fireball. "FUCK THIS SHIT!" She yelled out loud. She took a hard swig of the liquor. She slammed her hand on the table. Brad ran into the room and was upset to find her back at her old habits. It had only been a few weeks since she stopped. "Don't you fuckin' tell me to stop!" She threw the bottle cap at Brad and took another drink of the liquor. Brad stared at her and pulled up a chair to sit and the table. He pulled one out for her too. Audrey plopped down setting the bottle down on the table. He grabbed it, taking a drink himself. He was well over due for one. Being a bodyguard required 100% sobriety 100% of the time. Audrey looked at him in shock. "Hey now! You don't need to be drinking!" She scolded taking the bottle from him.

Hypocrite. He thought in his mind. He rolled his eyes. But happy to see her put the bottle away from the both of them. They sat there and looked at each other reassuringly. "Everything is going to be alright..." He said. He pulled her into a quick hug. She nodded into his chest. They both sighed as they looked around the room feeling the emptiness of the CDC building. Audrey shivered realizing that right above her was a pack of infected cannibals above her roaming around aimlessly.

She took a bag of potato chips from the snack bar and headed towards their room. Brad walked towards the containment room to check up on Dr. Jenner and Candace. Right before he walked to put his bio-hazard suit on he heard the gunshot. It felt as if it was right by his ear. It seemed to echo in his mind. He knew Candace had passed and turned. He saw the process from TS-07 all the way up to TS-18. He didn't even bother to walk in the containment room. He knew Dr. Jenner needed his time alone. Brad felt for him. He prayed for Candace and Dr. Jenner as he walked towards his room where Audrey stocked up on junk food and bottles of water.

* * *

**Two Months Later.**

Audrey stepped out of her room, clean as a whistle fresh out the shower. It had been a while since she was good and stable like this. Well, as good as good and stable could get post apocalypse. She was walking on her way to the main control room. She was going to mess around with Vi until she saw Dr. Jenner talking into the webcam. He seemed to be really upset.

"I bet there's not even a single person out there... Is there?" Dr. Jenner looked closely into the webcam. Audrey stood back silently. "It doesn't matter though... because tonight... I'm getting drunk!" Audrey stepped back a few feet. He stopped recording and looked behind him. He looked at Audrey and shook his head taking a swig of his wine. He nodded and held his glass up to her. She shook her head and walked away back into her room. She sighed knowing that TS-19 was terminated. It was late into the night, they were all still up. Hope was draining from them slowly. She sat next to Brad and started to cry. He held her tightly trying to comfort her. Her sobs were more violent than normal. He saw the hope draining away from her beautiful face.

"What are we going to do?" She asked Brad. She looked up at him. The only thing he saw in her eyes was sadness and worry. He only shook his head. He didn't know what to do. He was scared too. Would Dr. Jenner let them leave if they wanted to? Brad sat and planned their next move as Audrey cried herself to sleep next to him. He reached down and pet her head, hoping he could figure out a way to make things right. Or at least get the hope back into her eyes.

The next night Dr. Jenner, Audrey, and Brad sat in the main control room looking around thinking of what to do. Brad had convinced Dr. Jenner to not commit suicide two or three times already. Audrey and the rest had skipped dinner. They were all too stressed and too upset to even eat. "We're running low on power!" Dr. Jenner said angrily. "We're doomed!"

"That's not true!" Brad tried to talk some sense into him. Audrey sat looking back and forth as the two men fought, when something on the screen caught her eye. The infected? She thought to herself. She walked over and looked harder. No... REAL PEOPLE.

"Brad! People!" Audrey's voice filled with a little more hope. The two men walked over to the screen and looked at the disappointed faces of the group.

"No!" A tall man with short hair looked at the door as he slammed his hand on the metal security door.

"What do we do now? We can't stay out after dark, Rick!" A woman with very short her exclaimed with worry in her voice.

"I knew this was a mistake!" Said another man with dark curly hair. He was pissed.

"This can't be. Somebody has to be in here" The man known as rick said in disbelief.

"We gotta move! Back to the RV!" The group ushered the man Rick to move as well until he locked eyes with the security camera that was moving to look at the whole group.

"The camera! It MOVED! Someone's in there!" Rick exclaimed running back and banging on the door.

"No one is in there Rick! It's motion censored!" The same man who said it was a mistake to come to the CDC yanked his arm. Rick broke free and looked right at the camera.

"Look! I know you're in there! We have women and children! Let us in! Please!" Rick pleaded.

"Jenner! Let them in!" Audrey demanded. Her memories going back to the first day they came to the CDC with the mob at the military checkpoint. She only wished she could have helped them

"I can't do that. What if they're infected?" Dr. Jenner didn't want to take his chances.

"Dr. Jenner! Please!" Audrey clenched onto his arm. "DO NOT LET THESE INNOCENT PEOPLE DIE BY... BY THOSE THINGS!" She grabbed him by the collar and shook Dr. Jenner.

"You're MURDERING US!" Rick was shouting at the camera. As he turned to run back to the RV. Dr. Jenner punched the security code in and scanned his card. The security doors lifted up, stopping the group in their tracks as they turned around in awe. Walking quickly towards the door again.

Audrey and Brad bolted for the surface and Jenner followed, grabbing a heavy artillery gun on the way up. He still didn't want to take any chances. Brad held his arm out telling Audrey to stay behind him as he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the entrance. The group walked in just as Jenner got to the steps. They looked around in shock at how peaceful it looked in the CDC. They caught their eyes on Audrey, Brad, and Dr. Jenner, surprised to see guns pointed at them.

"Are any of you infected?" Dr. Jenner asked, pointing his gun.

"No!" The leader of the group, who Audrey assumed to be Rick, answered for everyone.

"Well just so you know, everyone has to submit to a blood test before entering the CDC." Dr. Jenner seemed to be more relieved. They all looked at each other and shrugged. They agreed to the blood test. Both Brad and Dr. Jenner lowered their weapons. "Is that everyone and everything? Because once these doors shut, they won't open again..." Dr. Jenner stated. They all nodded. And Dr. Jenner closed the security doors. "Audrey, let's get the blood tests started." Dr. Jenner ordered. She nodded and walked to the group, Brad following closely behind.

"Follow me." Audrey said as she lead them to a room down the hall. They all filed through the room. She examined each one as they passed by. There was a slender, built man with brown hair with a sheriff uniform on. She noticed him as Rick. There was a man with a little bit longer darker and curly hair with a five o'clock shadow. There was a woman with really short hair and a small girl that held onto her arm. There was also a young Asian boy. A black couple who shuffled quickly by. A woman with long tied up blonde hair. An old man with a fishing cap. A woman with long brown wavy hair with her son following close behind. And finally, a rugged man with raggedy jeans and beat up boots on. He wore tore up flannel with an old white wife beater underneath. He had thin lips and piercing blue eyes. His hair was a nice chestnut brown with an edgy kind of look to it.

Audrey made quick eye contact with each and every one of them before introducing herself. "Hello. I'm Audrey McCarthy. I'm not really a doctor. But I guess I'll be doing your blood tests tonight. It shouldn't take that lon-"

"You guess?" The man with dark curly hair snorted. "You're going to expect us to trust you to jab us with a needle?!"

"Shane! Let the girl finish." The man known as Rick scolded. He nodded to Audrey for her to continue.

Audrey looked down and blushed. Embarrassed, she realized how bad it must of sounded coming out like that. "Sorry... It's been a while since I've seen other people..." She said quietly. She swallowed and spoke up for everyone to hear. "Like I was saying... It won't take that long. I'm not a doctor, but I am an RN." As she finished explaining the procedure they looked all on board. Brad walked in the a waste bin and the blood test equipment, along with disinfecting wipes, band-aids, and a pair of gloves for Audrey. Dr. Jenner followed in and watched everyone closely.

When Audrey finished setting up her mini blood test station she looked up and smiled at the group. "Okay! So... Who's first?"

"I guess I'll go first." the leader of the group stepped up.

"Name?" She asked even though she had already learned it.

"Rick... Rick Grimes." He said as he sat down. Audrey scribbled his name on the label and stuck it on the test tube. She quickly cleaned off the skin where she was going to draw the blood. tied an elastic on his arm to find the vein. She aimed the needle and took a deep breath.

"One. Two. Three. Little pinch" As she stuck the needle in drawing the blood within seconds. She stuck a band-aid on his arm. And smiled at him. "Okay! All done." He stood up and walked over to Brad who told him where to wait. "Next!" Audrey said with a little happiness in her voice. It was nice to be interacting with other people finally.

She poked and drew through the group with ease, until the very last person. "Name?" she asked sweetly.

"Daryl Dixon." He said plopping down on the seat. He gave her a look as she wrote his name down on the label. "That ain't how ya spell it!" He looked at her like she was crazy. She looked embarrassed as she noticed the whole room was staring at her now. She blushed looking down.

"Oh... Sorry." she went to grab another label and asked for the spelling.

"D. A. R. Y. L." He spelled out. She could almost make out a little pride in his voice. She compared the two spellings and became even more embarrassed. She had made his name more complicated than it really was. Her original label spelled out "Dayrill". She took a deep breath and slapped the label onto the test tube. "At least you got my last name right." He said trying not to make her feel too bad about it. She smiled and nodded as she cleaned his arm and found his vein.

"One. Two. Little pinch." Audrey poked through and drew his blood. Finally. She was done. There was more people in the group than she thought. She was happy though. More people meant more company.

* * *

**A/N:** Alrighty. It's 4:05 AM now... I'm pretty beat. SEASON 3 TONIGHT! WOO HOO. Anyways. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm really half asleep and not sure if I wrote the right things but hey. I trust myself. Thanks for reading! I shall update VERY VERY VERY soon!


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: **WOW! Thanks for everyone who followed and added this story to their favorites! There's no romance yet! But soon, things will unravel. Sorry if my last couple of posts seemed either hasty, or odd. I'm a bit rusty at writing these days. It's been months since I wrote a fanfiction. But I will progress! Please, feel free to review and give me ideas or anything like that. Once again, Thanks a lot for reading!

Oh and for those of you who don't already know the acronyms.  
CDC: Center for Disease Control  
DFAC: Dining Facility  
DoD: Department of Defense

Also, I'd like to note that the same things will happen at the CDC as normal but the order it happens in a different. Sorry.

* * *

**Chapter 3.**

Audrey stood up and packed up and cleaned out the room. She was happy that she had done her job right. She looked up at Brad and smiled. He smiled back and put his hand on the top of her head and patted it. He was beginning to think a little more positively on the world. Audrey stepped up to the group and they all properly introduced themselves to her and Brad.

"If the introductions are done... If you would all gather your things, I'll show you to your rooms quickly. You can also shower..." Dr. Jenner started.

"Oh! You guys must be hungry!" Audrey thought out loud, turning to the group. She saw that they all had an anxious expression. _Food. A REAL MEAL._

"Audrey, Brad... I trust you can fix something up?" Dr. Jenner nodded his head in the direction towards the DFAC. "We can have dinner soon." Brad nodded and Audrey smiled, pulling Brad's arm and leading him out of the room towards the DFAC.

Audrey stood in the DFAC kitchen and hurriedly gathered ingredients. "There's a WHOLE group Brad! They survived out there!" Audrey said unbelievably as she mixed the batter to make biscuits. Brad glanced quickly at her and nodded as he finished chopping up vegetables and skillfully adding it into the pot of boiling water. He started to make mashed potatoes. "Do you think... We could make it out there?" Audrey said really thinking about it.

She really considered her survival skills. Audrey sighed as she realized she didn't really have much of survival skills. Well in defense in that matter. At Glasgow U, she minored in Environmental Science. She knew what plants were harmless, helpful, or dangerous. She also knew how to navigate through a map like a professional. Audrey and her mother had taken a lot of hiking class courses. While her father had free time to go hunting, Audrey and her mother went on hikes and explored the beautiful land that is Scotland. Audrey thought really long and hard about her defensive skills. She was good with words but that wouldn't do her any good. She couldn't talk those things into death. The only real experience she ever had was when her father had time to drag her down to the range with Brad and they all practiced shooting. She'd only been to the range about ten times. But that still wasn't enough training to where she could shoot anything right between the eyes. Who knows... Maybe she could make it out there.

"I think... that we're going to have to make it out there." Brad said with a little doubt in his voice. Audrey sat there and really thought about it. He was right. In a few days, the power will run out, and auto decontamination will occur.

"Do you think we could maybe travel with that group? I'm pretty sure they aren't going to sit through decontamination..." Audrey looked at Brad and stared at his face looking for signs of expression. Doubt and worry.

"I'm going to try and see if we can." Brad said finally. "There may not be a cure, but if we don't die, we don't change." Audrey nodded in agreement. After a while the food was done. A moderate feast for the large group. Audrey set the table and brought out numerous bottles of wine. She sighed and grabbed a bottle of Fireball and filled her glass with ice.

"Fuck wine... I need whiskey." Audrey muttered to herself. She wasn't planning on getting drunk. She just needed to loosen up. Her emotions were everywhere again.

One by one the group filed into the DFAC sitting down quickly and grabbing all the food they could. They all joked around and told stories. They had all showered and cleaned up. They looked relieved and happy. Audrey gave the kids water and the rest passed around the bottles of wine. Every was laughing and enjoying their food.

_Ting. Ting. Ting. Ting._

Rick clanged sliver ware on his wine glass getting the room's attention, "I'd like to thank Dr. Jenner, Brad, and Audrey! They're our saviors!" Rick raised his glass. The rest followed suit.

"He's more than that!" T-Dog chimed in raising his glass as well. They all broke out in agreement.

"Booyah!" Daryl said raising the bottle of wine. They all laughed and repeated.

Audrey sat beside Brad and she ate quietly to herself. She poured her whiskey into her glass. Brad had stopped her after a few seconds.

"No." He said firmly taking the bottle from her.

"Aww come on Brad! The girl can have a drink right?" Rick looked up and laughed. The whole group was chatting and laughing and having a good time. Unaware of the situation of the CDC and it's residents.

"No... She can't." Brad said glaring down at Audrey. She pouted and took a drink from her water.

"So she's not 21, it's the end of the world man!" Glenn defended Audrey.

"I'm 23! Brad give me the Fireball! I can handle my own." She growled at him and frowned. How could he be embarrassing her like that?

"NO! You obviously can't." Brad furrowed his brow at her and gave her a stern but meaningful look.

"One glass Brad! GIVE IT TO ME." Audrey was getting furious. Everyone else was allowed to have a drink. Even Brad had a glass of wine. So why couldn't she have her own drink? "I'm not going to get drunk again!"

"You said you quit!" Brad clenched onto the bottle feeling betrayed yet again by her words. The whole table was directed at the two of them. They had history... a long history. It showed between them. Audrey hung her head and stood up and quickly snatched the bottle and took a large swig of it.

"To hell with quitting." She said coldly. "Wrap my food up for later." She downed what was in her cup and slammed it on the table. "Good night Agent Brad!" She spat sarcastically. She wasn't sure if Brad still felt obligated to protect her like her father was still around, or maybe he changed his ways on how he was planning on protecting her. She tossed the cap of the bottle at Brad and walked out of the DFAC. She was embarrassed and distressed. She really wasn't planning on getting drunk. But now, she was. She headed to the room that she had originally had before she moved into Brad's room. The pictures of her and her family were still tacked to the wall. She fell backwards on the bed and drank more. The sweet cinnamon taste overwhelmed her mouth, the burning sensation of the whiskey went straight to her stomach. She felt her ears get warm and her mouth became watery. She drank until the bottle was just about gone.

* * *

The rest of the group looked at Brad silently and confused.

"Audrey McCarthy... She's a promising young lady..." Dr. Jenner started. Brad sat looking down, making tight fists with his hands. "Her father is a well respected scientist, he's practically famous around the world with his works." He explained. "She and Agent Brad here landed on the CDC door step months ago. They were involved in an plane crash and survived. Unfortunately... The rest of the McCarthy's passed..." Dr. Jenner looked deeply into his glass of wine.

"Agent Brad?" Lori looked at Brad who shot a look at Dr. Jenner. He wasn't expecting him to tell their whole story.

Brad sighed and nodded. "Since the McCarthy's were such a promising asset to the Global CDC Network, well the Professor at least... I was assigned to be his bodyguard. There were a lot of competitors for Prof. McCarthy. A lot of them wanted him eliminated. He was practically the new generation's Einstein. But now I'm Audrey's bodyguard... By choice. I choose to protect her. I'd throw my life down for that woman." He said looking at the group.

"So like a prince and princess?" the young girl Sophia asked with a smile.

"More like a princess and her loyal knight." He corrected. "We aren't involved like that. If anything... she's like the little sister I never had."

"So where is everyone..." Shane turned his head to Dr. Jenner. The room got even quieter. "We came here to look for people. Find answers. And what do we find? Them. Three people." Shane sounded disappointed.

"Shane... We're celebrating. We don't need to be doing this right now." Rick said firmly.

Dr. Jenner's eyebrows lifted and took a deep breath. "We're the only ones left." He stated to the group. "Ms. Audrey, Agent Brad, and myself. I am the only medical personnel here. Audrey is close to qualifying as one... she has done a significant amount in the infirmary. But unfortunately, a few months back when things got bad... the rest of the staff fled to be with their families... or committed suicide. That was a bad time." Dr. Jenner frowned after explaining, his eyes growing cold. The group sat there in shock and disbelief.

"Why did you three stay then? What made you stay?" Andrea looked at Brad and Dr. Jenner.

"I... just kept working. Hope got me through it." Dr. Jenner said looking towards Brad.

"I stayed... for Audrey. Audrey is everything I have now. And Audrey stayed because hope was in her eyes and soul. Her father's research is what kept her going." Brad said quickly. He avoided talking about it.

"Well... I think I'll turn in." Dr. Jenner poured himself a big, final glass of wine before walking away with his glass, sighing.

"Dude... You are SUCH a buzz kill." Glen spoke for the group as he shook his head taking another sip of his wine.

The group continued to talk about their travels and plans. One by one they all headed off to get ready to sleep.

* * *

"The fuck?" Audrey heard someone say as they entered the room. She sat up.

"What do ya want?" She asked, her accent became heavy. She locked eyes with Daryl. He had been quiet since he got here. Not really a talker. He gave her a look.

"This is my room." He stated. By the looks of it, he was planning to drink tonight too. He held two bottles of wine in his hands. She snorted.

"The hell it is." She laughed gesturing to the closet. His eyes narrowed and he opened the closet cautiously. The proof was there. Skirts and blouses of all kinds were hung neatly. He sighed and closed the door.

"Well that doctor guy told me this room ain't bein' used." Daryl drawled as he stepped closer, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. She pouted.

"Fuckin' Jennuh." She mumbled to herself taking a small sip of her whiskey, she tried hard to make the remaining liquids in the bottle last just a little longer. It was her last bottle left.

"Huh... You got some accent there girl." He stated, not trying to cross lines of any kind. Daryl sat down on the arm chair and popped the cork to the wine bottle, drinking straight from it. He knew better not to fuck with a Scottish drunk through many experiences at his hometown bar, O'Henry's Bar and Grill. "Yer not from the states are ya?" He asked curiously.

Audrey looked at Daryl suspiciously and shook her head. "I could say the same to you, ya know that?" She said playfully. "Edinburgh." She said with a proud half smile. She missed home.

"Where the hell is that?" He furrowed his brow and took another drink from the wine bottle. He felt the alcohol hit him. He loosened up and took a deep sigh. "That in Ireland?" He asked again.

"Scotland." She said flatly. "I'm both though." She said with a little more pride. Daryl's eyes widened in surprise. Audrey had started to take off her nylon stockings. He turned his head to the side and glanced at the floor. "I'm sleepin' here." She said throwing her stockings on the ground carelessly. She got out of the bed and stumbled to the closet. She used the door to cover herself as she changed into small shorts and a light pink wife beater. She freed her hair from her pony tail and her long light brown hair fell perfectly around her face that was still red from whiskey.

Daryl continued to drink from the bottle. She took the other bottle he had brought in and popped the cork. She took a deep breath before taking a drink. Daryl's lips tugged itself into a small smile. Damn, could this girl drink. He was impressed.

"Scottish to the end." She said setting the bottled down and smiling, obviously she read his expression. She stumbled to the bed and laid on top of the covers.

"So if yer Scottish and Irish... How come you ain't no ginger?" He asked her giving her a curious look. She rolled her eyes and gave a small smile. She knew it was the alcohol talking.

"Not everyone has to be a fuckin' ginger ya know?" She flung her arm in the air and continued. "That'd be fuckin' stupid. I'd look bad with orange hair. Been a brown top all me life ya know?" She looked at Daryl in amusement. He sat there and nodded. She noticed his ears were red and his body looked warm. This was the first time she actually got to take a real good look at this man. She bit her bottom lip as an image of Daryl shirtless popped in her mind.

"Yeah... I guess so. Y'all can't be gingers..." He said agreeing with her. She smiled and looked at the ceiling her fantasy flowing away.

_And he thinks MY accent is funny. _Audrey thought to herself. She glanced over at Daryl again as he took yet another drink from the bottle. She was impressed he could drink just as much as her it seemed. She looked back up at the ceiling and they talked for a good two hours. Drunk talk, but real none the less. Audrey wasn't sure if it was the alcohol... or if she really did find this southern man attractive. Lost in her thought she fell asleep.

"Then I told the fucker to back off before I..." Daryl trailed off when he saw Audrey passed out on the bed. "Well... it was fun while it lasted..." He said to the sleeping Audrey.

Just as Daryl finished the bottle, Brad came into the room looking worried as hell. It had been 4 hours since he'd seen Audrey. He glared at Daryl and ran to Audrey's side. Daryl threw his arms up in defense. "Hell, I ain't done nothin' to her." He stated putting the bottle down. "Found her in the room I was told to stay in. We was just talkin'" He said in his defense. Brad sighed and gave him a nod. They both looked down at her sleeping form. Audrey's calves were wrapped around in the sheets, the rest of her body exposed. Her long hair fell casually around the pillow. Her chest rising and falling slowly, and her mouth forming just a little bit of drool. Brad picked her up off the bed.

"I'll take care of her from here now... Sorry if she troubled you." Brad apologized as he headed out of the room.

* * *

"Huh..." Was all Daryl managed to say as he tilted his head and took a final drink of his bottle of wine. He knew he was drunk. His face was red, his mouth watery, and his eyelids heavy... though he was convinced that he was just exhausted, which was true. Daryl slowly got up and took his belt off as well as his boots. He threw his flannel off carelessly and was left in his jeans and wife beater. He plopped on the bed faced down. Daryl's mind drifted off to Audrey...

He inhaled deeply... Audrey's scent still lingered on the bed. A strong smell of Fireball Whiskey and hint of Head&Shoulders 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner. Damn could that girl drink. A small smile appeared on Daryl's face as he thought about it again. His mind wandered to her drunk talks with him. Just before Audrey passed out she ranted and raved about her whole damn story about this fucking apocalypse. She had told Daryl that she resented her father for dragging her along to all these conventions right up to the crash. It ate at her that she never got to say sorry. She was upset that they had survived and she wasn't even awake to even look at them... their last moments as living human beings. He shook his head and closed his eyes. He knew that it was the alcohol talking in her... But that didn't make her words any less meaningful and true.

Drunk words are sober thoughts...

* * *

"Huuuhnnn..."

It seemed as everyone who had drank to celebrate had drank too much the night before. Almost everyone in the group had a hang over.

"Remind me to never drink... AGAIN." Glenn sat at the DFAC table with his head hanging low, softly rubbing his temples. Sophia and Carl were passing out glasses of water. The attention of the room shifted as Audrey and Brad walked in. Audrey was wearing a giant sweater that went down to her mid thighs. You couldn't even tell she was wearing shorts underneath. The sleeves of the sweater going well past her hands. She wore sunglasses to shield her eyes from the harsh light of the halls and DFAC. Audrey was clearly hung over as well. She sighed and plopped down on the chair, placing a bottle of Aspirin on the middle of the table. Glenn immediately grabbed the bottle and shook two pills out, popping them into his mouth and chugging his glass of water. He passed it onto the next poor hung-over person.

Shane walked in and grabbed the bottle of Aspirin from T-Dog, taking the pills dry and looking pissed off as hell. "What the hell happened to you?" T-Dog stretched his neck out to get a better look at Shane's neck.

"Did you go outside?" Jacqui looked concerned. His neck had fairly new scratch marks on it.

Shane stayed quiet and shook his head. "Must've done it in my sleep..." He mumbled. Shane glanced around the room, quickly making eye contact with Lori. Lori adverted his gaze and sighed, calling Carl over. The group gave each other confused looks and shrugged.

Audrey groaned as she held her arm out to Brad he walked over and held his hand open. She dropped the elastic band into his hand and looked up. Her bottom lip popped out slightly as she gave a baby frown. Pouting. Still? At the age of 23? He gave her a soft smile and nodded. Audrey smiled and turned around in her chair putting her long hair over the back of the seat. Brad walked up behind her and proceeded to french braid her hair.

"Wow you two must be real close!" Carol gave a smile at Audrey.

"And you know how to french braid Brad?" Lori gave them both an amusing look. Audrey gave a small giggle and sipper her water. Brad blushed a little embarrassed.

"Well... I've been watching over the McCarthy's since Audrey was 7. I guess you could say there wasn't much danger when it came to tea parties, ice skating, and modern dance lessons." Brad tried to explain.

"He was basically a nanny. He picked my clothes out for the day, he made sure I brushed my teeth, did my homework, and went to bed on time." Audrey smiled.

"Bodyguard." Brad breathed out, quickly growing more embarrassed. Audrey shrugged as Brad finished braiding her hair.

"Big bro." Audrey shot back out. The mood of the room started to lighten up with Audrey's presence. She was always the warm candle in a dark room. The life of a party so to speak. That is, when she isn't drunk off her ass. "So... I take it you all have eaten?" Audrey sat up and gently placed her hands on the table. They all nodded. "Well I think I should finish up the grand tour! There's really no need to look into the labs and stuff, but maybe you guys would like to see the main room?" Audrey asked not really looking for an answer. They all stood up and followed her to the main room.

Walking down the halls of the living quarters, Daryl stepped out of his room looking hung over as hell, hair messy, and a bottle of wine still in his hand. He nodded to the group.

"Oh Daryl!" Audrey blushed avoiding eye contact. When she woke up this morning, Brad had given her a brief summary of what had happened that night. It all started to flood back to her as she looked at Daryl. "You're just in time for... uh... the rest of the tour." She felt embarrassed. He shrugged and walked along side her, joining the group on their tour to the main room.

* * *

"Vi... Turn on main room lighting." Dr. Jenner had walked in with Rick just before the rest of the group got there. The lights flashed on as Audrey and her tour group followed in behind her.

"Rick?" Lori walked over to her husband and placed a hand on his shoulder. Before she could continue talking, Dr. Jenner began to explain.

"I'm glad you've brought the rest of them here Audrey..." Dr. Jenner nodded over to her. Audrey gave a concerned look. "This... is TS-19." he gestured towards the screen. Audrey's heart stopped looking up at the recording. Her stomach was in knots.

"What are those lights?" Andrea asked curiously. The group focused their attention on the screen.

"Those lights... are memories, sensory messages, thoughts, words... everything that makes you... you. Everything that makes you unique... an individual." Dr. Jenner looked at the group. They were all still focused on the screen. "Test subject 19 was infected with the virus a few months back..."

"You mean there was a walker in here?!" Shane looked concerned, wondering if there were more.

"Is that what you call them?" Dr. Jenner looked offended at the dehumanizing label. Audrey looked at Dr. Jenner sympathetically. It was his wife after all. But he couldn't blame them for not knowing that. Audrey thought that was a good thing to call them anyways since they weren't exactly human anymore. The screen showed the brain being attacked by the virus and then TS-19's brain goes dark. Audrey looked down sadly. Dr. Jenner fast forwarded it to the second event. The brain looked like it had become active again.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.

"Just the brain stem..." Dr. Jenner corrected her. "The human part... that doesn't come back..." The brain recording showed a bullet go through the mind.

"What was that?" Jacqui asked.

"TS-19 had to be terminated. They had turned. TS-19 volunteered their brain to science... She had hopes to find a cure. That... that is why I stayed." Dr. Jenner looked at the group as he paused the video. "I made a promise to her... He looked at the screen. My wife. It could have been anyone but her... she was so bright. It should have been me..." He said sitting down. "To be honest... I don't know what the virus truly is... And I don't have a cure..." The room stayed quiet until Dale spoke up.

"I know this is off topic, and I'd hate to ask one more question... but why is that clock counting down?" Dale asked pointing at the wall.

"When the clock hits zero... the basement generators run out of fuel... It happens to all the CDC buildings around the world. They stuck it out the longest before they ran out of power too... they were close to finding a cure before communications shut down. But now... it's over." He stood and walked out of the room. Audrey gave the group a concerned look.

"I suggest... you guys should pack. This place won't sustain for long." Audrey suggested as her and Brad went to pack their things.

Audrey sat in her room looking at the things she was going to pack. There was no time to change her clothes. 30 minutes remained. The room grew warm and the air was thick. "Brad..." She looked over at Brad who had just finished packing. They had arrived with nothing, so travelling light was not an issue. "The air turned off..." She gave him a frightened look.

"I know Audrey... I still need to ask Rick if we could tag along." He said looking at his back pack.

"There isn't any reason they wouldn't! We took them in first!" Audrey grew panicked, worried that they wouldn't accept them into their group. "Shit. We need to go to the armory." Audrey fit all her hand me down clothing into her back pack and stuffed her pictures in her father's journal, and placing it in the back pack. "Come on." She stood up and headed towards the DFAC with another bag. "Brad! You go to the Armory, fit everything into the assault pack. I'll stay here and gather food and water." Audrey ordered. Brad nodded and ran the opposite way to the Armory.

After Audrey gathered all the food and water possible she headed out the DFAC and heard loud banging. She ran towards the noise. The security door was shut tight. She heard gun shots and shouting on the other side. Brad came up behind Audrey with the assault pack full of weapons and ammo. "What's going on?" Brad asked.

"I'm about to find that out." Audrey said as she pushed the intercom button on the side of the door. "Dr. Jenner!" She yelled into the speaker. "Dr. Jenner what the hell are you doing in there!?"

"Opting out..." He said into the air. Audrey heard more banging on the door.

"Stop banging! It's useless! These walls are meant to withstand military missiles!" Audrey hissed.

"Audrey! Audrey! Get us the hell out of here!" She heard Daryl's voice through the intercom.

"Give us a chance! A chance to go on as long as we can! We deserve that! You may have given up hope be we haven't..." Lori said to Dr. Jenner.

"Five minutes till decontamination." Vi's warning gave out.

"Fuck! Dr. Jenner these are innocent people! Give them a choice!" Audrey shouted over the speaker. "Dr. Jenner!" Audrey pounded on the door once and the doors flew open. The group running through the doors with their things. "Hurry!" Audrey ushered the group.

"I'm grateful..." Rick said to Dr. Jenner.

"There will be a day where you won't be." Dr. Jenner replied and he whispered into Rick's ear. Rick ran afterwards with a shocked expression.

"I'm not going sweetie..." Jacqui struggled free out of T-dog's grip.

"Me either... I'm staying." Andrea sat down next to Dr. Jenner. Dale pushed his hand through the air and motioned for Audrey and the rest to go on without him.

* * *

Audrey and the rest ran to the surface looking around for a place to get out. Audrey grabbed onto Rick's shoulder stopping him from looking around.

"Take us with you!" She gave him a pleading look. "Please!? I... We... we have nowhere else to go!" Audrey said frantically. Rick nodded and gave Audrey a meaningful look.

"Yes." Was all he could say. He patted her back and continued to look for a way out. Carol eventually pulled out a grenade from her purse handing it to Rick. "Alright get back!" Rick yelled as he pulled the pin near the window and let the grenade fall. Everyone steered clear from the radius of the explosion and ran out of the window.

"That was one hell of an explosion!" Glenn said while running.

"Hurry up and keep running! If we don't make it out of the blast radius you'll be part of a bigger one!" Audrey said as she sprinted through the campus. It was the first time in months that she had been up to the surface. She was glad to breathe fresh air. She followed in Brad's foot steps avoiding walkers and dodging obstacles.

"Into the RV!" Rick demanded as he stood by the RV door doing a quick headcount. Audrey and Brad piled into the RV and tried to catch their breath. They sat their waiting and watched Dale and Andrea climb out of the building. They ran as fast as they could to the RV. But it was already too late.

"Dale! Andrea! Get down! Get down now!" Lori shouted out the window.

"Shit! Everyone get down now!" Rick shouted. Audrey ducked and Brad shielded her with his body. Everyone else took cover and the explosion sent debris flying and the surrounding area caught fire. Dale and Andrea piled into the RV shortly after. Rick waited for everyone including himself to catch their breath before leading the pack of cars away from what used to be the CDC.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm really trying to go slow with the romance aspect of everything and really just trying to involve Brad and Audrey into the story. It works because Daryl is kind of a socially awkward character. I think Norman Reedus really plays his character well and he understands the role he plays. So I'm just going off of what I observe in the show and what Norman Reedus also says about Daryl and his character. Thanks for following, reviewing, and faving you guys! I'll write again soon!

P.S. Did anyone else think that Season 3 Episode 1 was just totally HOLY SHIT, WHAT IS THIS, BAD ASS, ASS KICKERY?! I was happy :D


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Thank you again for everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and/or followed. It means a lot that I still have sort of a writing skill tucked away in me! I think I have a pretty good writing schedule. I plan to update my stories daily if not every two-three days. A whole week at the latest, unless shit happens in my life where I'm unable to update. Or if writer's block strikes me. All in all, I'll most like let you all know if something goes down and I take a sudden hiatus.

* * *

**Chapter 4.**

Audrey stepped out of the RV shielding her eyes from the blazing sun. It was another hot day in the city of Atlanta. They had all stopped to re-fuel their cars. She walked around the RV to the truck Rick, Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Carol were all piled in. She gave Rick a nod and smiled opening the passenger door and letting Lori step out. Lori smiled weakly at her and place a soft hand on her shoulder. The rest of them all followed suit and stepped out of the vehicle.

"Want to stretch your legs for a bit?" Audrey asked extending a helpful hand to Sophia. She looked at Audrey nervously but slowly got out of the truck with Audrey's help.

"Sweetie don't wander off too far." Carol called out to Sophia. "Stay where Audrey or myself can see you." Sophia only nodded and looked up at Audrey, who gave her a bright smile. Audrey had sort of became the baby sitter of the group. She watched Sophia and Carl closely while the rest went to scout around or re-fuel on gas. They had been on the road for only a few days, just outside the city of Atlanta. Sophia, Carl, and Audrey walked back to the RV. Carl and Sophia walked into the RV to use it as a cover to shield them from the harsh rays of the sun.

"I'll be right back. Stay put you two." Audrey said firmly as she closed the RV door. They nodded and sat at the table pulling out a deck of cards. Audrey walked over to Brad, who was helping Daryl get the Harley down from the bed of his truck. Shane walked up to the boys and tried to maneuver in to help them with the bike.

"You leaving the truck?" Shane asked Daryl. Daryl nodded as they finally set the Harley down on the ground.

"Transmission's shot. Ain't no use no more to me. S'why I brought Merle's bike along." Daryl explained turning the engine on. It made a loud but clean hum. Daryl checked the gas, he still had a full tank. He turned the engine off and gave it a pat on the handle. "It's all good here." He hopped off the seat and started to get his bag from the truck and securing it to the back of the Harley. Audrey's deep green eyes caught Daryl's blue eyes for a small moment. He eyed her up in down. "The hell you wearin' girl?" He gave her a weird look before continuing to secure his bag. Brad and Shane stared at Audrey's outfit. They all thought it was a little weird as well.

"I don't have anything else to wear..." Audrey looked down at her own outfit and blushed. She was wearing a nice white blouse with a black pencil skirt that went down just a little past the middle of her thighs. She had on black leather ankle boots that had a small heel to it. "All the clothes I have were hand me downs from the other scientists in the CDC." Audrey tried to explain herself, but that didn't make her look less of an unprepared person post apocalyptic. Brad shook his head and Shane placed his hand on the back of his neck rubbing it. He gave Audrey a look of concern.

"Hey Rick?" Shane called Rick over. "We got an issue over here." Rick ran quickly to Shane and Glenn followed soon after. Rick glanced at Audrey's attire strangely before addressing Shane.

"What's up?" Glenn ran up beside Rick.

"Uh... Looks like Audrey doesn't really have the proper attire to be traveling like we do." Shane tilted his head towards Audrey. Both Glenn and Rick looked over and grimaced. He was right. Brad put a reassuring hand on Audrey's shoulder telling her that he'd get her new clothes soon.

"We can't go back into town, we're already on the outskirts." Glenn stated, verbally crossing that option off the mental list.

"We'll stop at the next department store we see to get the girl some clothes. Ain't like we traveling on foot anyhow." Daryl spoke up getting on his bike and starting the engine.

"Daryl's right." Rick agreed. "It's almost sunset we gotta roll out. Next time we stop for supplies, Audrey's clothes will be on the list. In the mean time, I'll have Lori or Andrea lend some clothes to her." Rick ordered walking away to where the other females were. They exchanged words and glanced over at Audrey, obviously discussing her situation. Audrey walked to the RV and got Carl and Sophia.

"Alright kiddos. Back in the truck with you both." She said purposefully making her accent a little thicker. Sophia giggled as Audrey picked her up and tossed her lightly in the truck. She shut the door after the both of them got in with Carol. Carol gave her a smile and petted Sophia's hair.

"Hey dear." Lori looked at Audrey. "I see you have a wardrobe problem." Lori joked. Audrey gave an embarrassing smile. "It's okay. Don't worry. I'll give you some clothes next time we stop okay? It looks like we're about to head out right now."

"Sounds good. Thank you Lori." Audrey looked a little hopeful. Lori nodded and climbed into the truck. Audrey walked up to the RV where Brad was waiting for her. He opened the door and she climbed in. Shane mentioned leaving his jeep behind and he hauled in the RV with his stuff. Audrey sat in the back of the RV and waited for the leading vehicle to pull a U-Turn. She looked out the window and saw Daryl whip around and head towards the highway, then Rick and his truck, and lastly the RV tugged forward and they were on the road again.

Brad walked up to Audrey and sat down with clothes in his hands. "Here." he said setting the clothes in her lap. "Andrea pulled these out for you. They used to be her sister's." Audrey unfolded the clothes and examined the spaghetti strap tank top and denim jeans. "Maybe you should change before we stop for anything again." Brad suggested as he stood up again and walked to the front of the RV with Dale and Glenn to examine the map.

Audrey stood up and headed to the small bathroom in the RV. She stripped her clothes off in exchanged for the new one's Andrea had given her. She sighed in relief that the clothes managed to fit perfectly on her. Her boots weren't really a problem so she kept them with her. Audrey stepped out of the bathroom and decided to thank Andrea.

She found Shane and Andrea sitting at the table. Shane was cleaning out all the guns and Andrea was watching intently. "Ahem. Andrea..." Audrey called to get her attention. Andrea glanced up for a quick moment and did a double take, staring at Audrey harder. She smiled, but Audrey saw sadness in her eyes. "I just wanted to thank you for the extra clothes. I'm not exactly prepared when it comes to wardrobe." Audrey explained. "So... thank you Andrea." She smiled down at her.

"I didn't want to throw them away you know?" Andrea said looking down at her hands. "I didn't fit them... but I couldn't just get rid of them. I thought maybe we would have met someone who would need them... Or Sophia would grow into them. I just..." Andrea trailed off lost in thought of the memory of her deceased sister Amy. Audrey couldn't even imagine the pain she felt... She wondered about the pain she would experience if she were to ever lose Brad. "I'm glad they fit you. I can give you the rest if you'd like?" Andrea smiled a little happier. "Amy would have shared." Audrey smiled grateful.

"If you don't mind. I would like to save the group a stop to just get me new clothes you know? We're all eager to get to Fort Benning." Audrey stated. Andrea nodded and stood up. She picked up a backpack in the pile of other bags behind Dale's driver sear. She handed the back pack to Audrey and gave a small smile.

"Here you go... This was her bag. The only thing I really brought was her clothes. I didn't think anyone needed her toothbrush or anything like that."

"Thank you again Andrea." Audrey hugged Andrea and patted her back. Andrea sat back down and continued to watch Shane clean out the guns and Audrey headed to the back of the RV to replace the bag of clothes from the CDC with the new bag that Andrea gave her.

* * *

They had been driving for almost two days straight. Audrey sat quietly as she felt the RV stop. She looked out the window and saw that they had parked at a rest stop just off the highway. The sun would be setting in a few hours and she saw Rick get out of the truck.

"We'll have to make do for tonight. We'll camp here and get moving again at first light. All of our drivers need to be rested up. Especially you Daryl. You don't have anyone to trade off with on the bike or help keep you awake. You've been alone for two days." Rick's plan was reasonable. The only time the group ever stopped was to either re-fuel on gas, take a bathroom break, switch drivers, have a quick meal, or to look at the map as a group. According to Glenn, it shouldn't even take two days to get to Fort Benning. The route was constantly changing to avoid highly populated areas and road blocks. The whole group was tired. "We'll set up camp here." Rick gestured to a small field with a couple of picnic tables. Next to the field was a small building labeled "Bathroom and Showers". In front of the building was a series of vending machines for snacks and beverages.

"Well look at that!" Audrey said excitedly. She trotted over to the vending machines after setting her bag down on the picnic table. Brad, Glenn, and Daryl followed her to see if there was anything they could do to help. The four of them stood and stared at the vending machines. Audrey turned to the three of them excitedly. "CHEETOS!" She exclaimed bouncing happily. Brad looked at Glenn. Glenn shrugged and smiled. Glenn lifted his crowbar and smashed the glass of one of the vending machines. Audrey squealed happily and grabbed the bag of Cheetos. Unfortunately, she grabbed into the vending machine a little too eagerly. A piece of glass still attached to the machine had ripped through her left forearm. "MOTHER FUCK!" Audrey clasped onto her arm as the blood continued to flow out of her arm rapidly. Brad's eyes widened. He immediately ran to get some first aid.

"I'll be right back! Daryl, apply some pressure!" Brad sprinted across the field to the rest of the group explaining the situation. Daryl pulled a bandanna from his back pocket and shook it off before wrapping Audrey's arm up and applying pressure. Audrey winced at the pressure. She frowned and looked down.

"What is it? Silly rabbit... Cheetos are for kids or somethin' like that?" Daryl looked at the vending machine still holding on to Audrey's arm.

"It's Trix. Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids." Audrey said pouting. Both Audrey and Daryl looked as Glenn quickly but carefully stocked a bag with the items from the vending machines.

"Huh, whatever. I never really paid attention to them commercials anyhow." Daryl looked down at Audrey's arm. He had a feeling she might need stitches. Glenn finished just as Brad, Rick, Andrea, Dale, and Lori came back with supplies for her wound. "See... that's how you do it." Daryl's head turned towards Glenn's handy work.

"Yeah, yeah..." Audrey rolled her eyes playfully.

"You okay?" Lori asked with a concerned look in her eyes.

"I'm alive. It hurts though."

"Let's take a look..." Rick took Audrey's arm carefully from Daryl. Daryl looked as his hand to find it covered in blood. He frowned and looked on the ground. She had lost a fair amount of blood. Rick removed the bandanna from her arm and they gently cleaned the blood off as best they could. The wound would refuse to stop bleeding.

"Just as I thought..." Audrey said frowning at the deep gash in her arm. "I'm going to need stitches."

"Are you sure?" Andrea looked worried. "I don't think anyone knows how..."

"Andrea's right..." Dale said placing the various first aid kits down.

"I do..." Audrey looked up at the group. Brad looked at her and contemplated doing it himself.

"Audrey..." Brad started.

"Don't even think about it Brad. Even if I directed you to do it... if I directed any of you, it still wouldn't work that way... It's just... too complicated. The blood. And we don't even have anything to numb my arm!" Audrey protested.

"Isn't it just like sewing a hole from a shirt?" Lori asked. "Maybe I can..."

"No... I mean, you're right. It's like sewing a hole but skin and fabric are two different things. I'd rather do it myself. I just need a couple people." Audrey looked at the people surrounding her. She opened up the first aid kits and found a small kit for stitches. She sighed in relief. The proper needle and equipment. It was old fashioned, but it would have to do. "Daryl, Brad, and Andrea... Can you help me?" They all nodded. "Good. I need to get to the grass." She struggled to walk to the field. Audrey hadn't lost THAT much blood. But the lack of food and water certainly made a difference in her strength. "Andrea... I need clean towels and some water." She ordered. Andrea ran off to the RV. "Brad, I need you to put a pair of gloves on. You're going to hold the wound shut while I stitch." Brad opened up another first aid kit to find a pair of gloves, he put the gloves on and helped Audrey put one glove on her free hand. "And Daryl, if you could... Be a chair in a sense? I need you to hold me steady." Daryl nodded a bit confused.

"So uh... how do I?" Daryl looked around him on the grass.

"That tree. Sit against that tree and spread your legs." Audrey said pointing to a large tree not too far from them. Daryl helped her over to the tree and she sat between his legs. Her arm continued to bleed. It began to seep through his jeans. He felt the warm liquid go through the fabric and onto his skin, becoming cool and sticky. Andrea came back with plenty of towels and a small bucket of water. "We have to hurry..." Audrey said a little weakly. Audrey's face was starting to lose color. She took deep breaths as Andrea placed a large towel between Audrey's arm and Daryl's leg.

"I threaded the needle." Brad said handing it to Audrey. "I did enough for 12 stitches."

Audrey nodded. She would only need 9 from the looks of it, but it was better to be safe than sorry. "Okay... Andrea, that hydrogen peroxide. Get that washcloth and clean the wound please?" Andrea did as she was told. "This is going to hurt like a bitch." Daryl felt Audrey tense up and shiver against him. Andrea placed the cool liquids onto Audrey's cut and she cried out. "JESUS H CHRIST!" tears began threatening to fall from Audrey's eyes. She took more deep breaths before proceeding to stitch her arm up. "Daryl... steady. Brad... hold the wound." Both did as they were told. Daryl placed his arm around Audrey's waist and his left hand held her left wrist down. Audrey could feel Daryl's breath begin to slow down as well, which made Audrey a little less tense. She could still feel his chest pounding though. "Andrea, it's going to bleed more soon, so keep the wound as clear and clean as possible through the process." Audrey poked through the first layer of skin and made her first stitch. She bit her lip. The needle was rounded and it hurt like hell. She drew her right arm up to pull the thread through both holes in her skin and she gave a small tug for security. She took another deep breath before making her second stitch. Tears were rapidly falling from her eyes, it was hard to see what she was doing.

Audrey would blink hard to clear her vision. Andrea had noticed this and in the process of changing the towel between Daryl's leg and Audrey's wounded arm, she grabbed a clean washcloth and wiped away the tears as they fell from Audrey's eyes carefully. The process was slower than usual. It was normal though, Audrey had never performed stitching on anyone in her life. Only on dummies during a medical emergency training course and science class where they dissected frogs, rabbits, and birds. Daryl leaned his head on Audrey's shoulder. He was exhausted. He was tense the entire time trying to keep Audrey steady.

"Almost done." She nudged her head against Daryl's to reassure him. He rose his head and looked at her handy work. "One more stitch and I'll tie the knot." Audrey explained. It had taken her 10 stitches. So both Audrey and Brad were right in the ballpark. She did it quick and thorough. She wanted it to be done and over with. She tied the knot quickly and Andrea gently cleaned her wound. They all gave one big giant sigh of relief. "Ho-ly shiiiit." Audrey breathed out and smiled. Daryl helped her stand up with him. "I'll shower after everyone else. It needs time to close up just a bit more." Daryl handed Audrey off to Brad and he helped her to the campsite. Daryl and Andrea cleaned up the kits and towels.

"You're alright!" Lori came and gave Audrey a light hug. Shane and Dale came over to look at the damage.

"That's gonna leave one hell of a scar." Shane frowned at her arm. "I hope that won't slow you down too much."

"It's my arm. Not my leg." She said with a little bit of tone her voice.

"Well, we're all glad you're okay." Dale said lightening up the mood. "We can wrap it in a bandage lightly to keep it from getting dirty and infected. And when we're resting or on the road, you can let it air out." Audrey nodded and walked over to Sophia and Carl. Glenn had been stuck babysitting while Carol was snagged from Andrea to help with the Laundry.

"You did it yourself?" Glenn looked shocked at how well she had performed on herself.

"I had some help..." She glanced at Daryl. The rest of her helping party had gone off to do their own thing.

"Well... I saved these for you." Glenn held out a bag of Cheetos. Audrey smiled brightly and grabbed the Cheetos opening them immediately before stopping.

"I guess I should wash my hands first." Audrey looked at her hands. They weren't completely covered in blood, but they weren't clean either. "Can you watch my bag of Cheetos?" She asked Glenn handing it back to him.

He grabbed the bag from her and nodded. "Oh and I guess the men's room is the only one with running water. T-Dog and Rick already tried figuring out what was going on in the ladies room." She nodded and walked off slowly to the men's room.

Audrey washed her hands until she was satisfied with their cleanliness. After she finished drying her hands, Andrea, Lori, Sophia, and Carol walked into the bathroom. "Oh Audrey! There you are!" Carol said happily. She looked tired, but her eyes were still shining. "We were just going to take a shower! Care to join us?" Audrey looked down to the showers. There were only two showers.

"Nah... I'm going in last. Even after the guys. I'm waiting on this wound to close up a bit more. I'll get started on dinner while you're all showering though." Audrey smiled and started to head out.

"I'll come help you after I'm done." Lori called out as she walked to the showers.

* * *

It was dark out and the only thing that was left lighting the surrounding area was the fire Shane and Brad had built. Everyone but Daryl had eaten dinner. Audrey looked around before finally asking.

"Where's Daryl?"

"Probably out hunting. He'll be back soon though. We're leaving tomorrow. I think he wants to keep our food supply at a moderate level." Rick said as he sat by Lori and Carl. A towel hung around his shoulders. Carl and Rick were the last to shower.

"Stop worrying about everyone else dear. You've done plenty already." Carol said walking up behind Audrey and rubbing her hand on her back appreciatively.

"Yeah Audrey. You should probably take a shower now. You're still covered in blood and dirt." Andrea said handing her a towel, shower things, and extra clothes.

"You're not giving me a choice are you?" Audrey looked at her.

"Not if you plan on sleeping in the RV. You need to shower!" Andrea joked. And Audrey put her hand up in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah I'm on it." She turned from the group and walked towards the men's room with a small flashlight to guide the way.

* * *

The bathroom was dark so she kept the flashlight balanced upright on by the floor, but far enough so the water wouldn't get on it. She turned the shower on and let the water hit her. It was still warm. She didn't even question why there was still hot water or why it was running. She was content. She lathered her body with soap and washed her hair quickly. She didn't bother to take a long shower. She just wanted to be clean. She figured Brad was waiting up on her to finish before he went to bed.

A bang was heard on the bathroom door and Audrey quickly turned the water off. Startled she grabbed her towel and wrapped herself in it killing the light in the lantern. She stayed in the stall and she heard the door squeak open.

"Grrruuuuuhhh..." She heard the moan of a walker. Her heart stopped. She couldn't tell how many walkers were in the bathroom. She heard the shuffling and figured it was just one. She began to wonder how many were outside. She gulped as she heard the footsteps of the dead come closer to her stall. There wasn't even a door. Just a make shift wall to separate the other shower from hers. As the walker got closer she moved towards the makeshift wall. Just as the walker's foot went past the wall she turned the flash light on and attempted to crawl under the wall. The walker growled and grabbed her towel. She unrolled away from the towel and bolted for the door. She'd rather be naked and alive, than covered and dead. She tried her best not to scream not knowing if there were more walkers. She looked over at the campsite. The fire was low but still alive. She could make out about 20 or so walkers stumbling over to the campsite. All Audrey had was a fucking flashlight.

Audrey panicked looking for an opening to get to the group. She heard the walker from the bathroom make it's way out of the door. She quickly ran back and steadied herself against the door. Keeping it inside. "Oh God. Oh God. Oh. God. Oh God. Oh God!" Audrey took deep breaths and looked frantically for anyone to help her. It looked like everyone else was preoccupied with killing the walkers surrounding the campsite. Sophia, Carol, Carl, and Lori were already heading towards the truck with their things. Rick stood there guarding the truck looking for everyone. Audrey was too far away for anyone to see her without a decent amount of light. Andrea and Dale piled into the RV with the rest of the stuff. Shane, Glenn, T-Dog and Brad were holding back the walkers as best as they could. Moments later another walker made it's way around the corner of the building. It shuffled closer to her snarling. Audrey froze unable to move. Tears were streaming down her face, her heart felt like it was doing a million beats per second.

BOLT.

The walker fell face first a foot away from Audrey. Audrey still held her back to the bathroom door. She saw a bolt sticking out from the back of it's head. She looked up to see her savior. Daryl stood there, his crossbow still aimed at the walker.

"Audrey!" He was surprised. He knew he heard her voice, but he wasn't aware that she was nude. She didn't even care about that at the time. She continued to struggle with the door.

"God! Daryl! Help me!" Audrey cried. Daryl nodded and pulled the used bolt out of the fallen walker's head.

"Move out of the way when I say." He told her as he quickly loaded his crossbow. She nodded furiously and got ready to move. "Now." He said quickly and she sprinted away from the door. The walker burst through and Daryl hit the walker right in the temple. As soon as the walker fell Daryl grabbed Audrey and ran into the men's room. "Go get dressed, I'll guard the door." Daryl told Audrey. Audrey ran to her clothes and hurriedly put her clothes on. She struggled to wrap the new bandage on her arm as fast as possible. Her hand was so shaky. She had never had a close encounter like that before. She finally got her arm wrapped up and she ran towards Daryl.

"I'm ready." She told him. He eyed her up and down quickly and smirked.

"Well I see you got some real clothes on now. None of that skirt shit." He said before peeking out the door. She was glad she had gotten the new clothes when she did. Audrey had a black running jacket, Capri sweats, and running shoes on. If life were normal on Earth, it would look like she was just going out for a run. She quickly pulled her hair into a high ponytail. "Alright. You ever ride on a bike before?" He asked her. She shook her head and looked a little worried. "Don't worry, All you have to do is wrap your arms around me and keep your legs up. Now... we're going to run for camp. I'm going to tell everyone to go and start headed toward the highway. You run for the bike and I promise I'll meet you there. I'm going to cover you okay?" Audrey stood still worried. There were at least a dozen left and the fighting force of the group looked tired. "Okay?!" Daryl's voice was a bit more forceful.

"O-okay." Audrey said forcing her legs to move.

"Okay... take these." Daryl handed her a string of freshly hunted down squirrels that were still warm. They were slightly covered in a rag. She was shocked but knew that this was going to feed her and the group for the next how ever many meals. "When you get to the bike, put 'em in the storage case on the back ya hear?" Audrey nodded and gulped hard. "Alright, Go!" Daryl grabbed her arm and slingshot her forward as she ran for the bike. He went slightly off in a different direction towards the RV picking off any walker that went within 30 feet from Audrey.

"I got Audrey! Get in a vehicle and haul ass!" he shouted at the group as he shot another walker down and headed to the direction of his bike.

"Where is she then?!" Brad looked around not seeing any sign of her near Daryl.

"At the bike! Get yer ass in the RV!" Daryl shouted back. He sprinted towards his bike. "Rick!" He shouted as he passed the truck. Rick nodded and ran around to the driver's side and started the engine. Glenn, T-Dog, and Brad took out a few more walkers before piling into the the RV. Audrey stood by the bike scared out of her mind. She had already put the squirrels where Daryl had instructed her to put them. She was a little more relieved when Daryl showed up. He wrapped up his crossbow on the back of the bike and sat in front turning the engine on. "Get on." He ordered. Audrey hopped up and wrapped her arms around Daryl for dear life. The RV engine started and Daryl gunned the engine out of the rest stop and back on the highway, the rest following.

So much for resting. She thought in her mind. She rested her head against Daryl's back and looked out into the night. She looked up and saw the full moon and all the stars surrounding her. She sighed and looked behind her. Rick was concentrated on the road but she managed to make eye contact with Lori. Lori was still wide eyed, but she gave Audrey a reassuring look. She knew everyone made it out alive. Audrey turned back around and rested her head back on Daryl's back.

The group rode all the way through the night until sunrise...

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll be sure to write again soon! I know I kind of left this one a little open ended. The group is all panicked, so no one really has the time to gather their thoughts about what just happened to them. It'll be next chapter when that happens. Anyways, please review, favorite, or follow. All of that is really helpful and encouraging! Thank you so much for reading! I'll be sure to write more soon!


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: **WOW! Thank you so much for all the great feedback, favorites, and follows! You guys are great! And I'm SOOOOO sorry it's taking me so long to publish. It's because

1) I got engaged. To the man of my life. I'm so very happy.  
2) I've been moving around, packing, and getting settled into an apartment. So I haven't had access to the internet but on my phone.  
3) Wedding planning.  
4) LOTS of family flew in for me so I'm stuck catering to them and giving them entertainment and tours around.

So sorry, but it's going to take a little while for me to get a hold of a computer and some free time to actually sit and write out this fanfic. Holy crap I've had story ideas bursting through my fucking skull I'm glad I finally get to write it down. Again, I'm really sorry. I'm going to try my best. Wish me luck on both this story and my very own love story.

My Future Husband is my Daryl Dixon. 3 I couldn't ask for a better man. And if you'd like to hear the story of my engagement, message me and if I get enough messages I might just post the actual engagement story. Lots of love. Thank you so much for being patient!

* * *

**Chapter 5.**

The sunrise was beautiful. The air had a warm breeze as it whipped through Audrey's hair. She had stayed up and kept Daryl company through the drive. Audrey held her head back and looked straight up into the sky. Big puffy clouds roamed overhead. She took a deep breath and gave a thoughtful look around the scenery. It was like there was no such thing as an apocalypse. She turned around to see how the vehicle around her was doing. Lori smiled and Audrey gave her a thumbs up.

It was early afternoon when Daryl slowed down the bike. Slowly rolling through a road block made of cars, he rolled to a stop. He sighed and looked around. He whipped U-Turn and slowed to talk to Dale at the RV.

"Can you find a way around?" Dale looked down at Daryl concerned. Daryl nodded and motioned for them to follow. They made their way slowly, weaving in and around the cars.

_FFFFFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRSS SSSSSSSSS._

Audrey jumped startled by the sound. She quickly turned her head to see smoke coming from the grill of the RV. She tapped on Daryl's shoulder telling him to stop.

"Ah hell. I knew it." Dale killed the engine of the RV. The rest stopped and looked around before cautiously stepping out of the cars.

"You alright Dale?" Rick walked up looking at the RV.

"Yeah... but the RV isn't. I told you I needed to get a belt and hose for this thing. I used to be able to fix it with some duct tape, but I'm all out of duct tape!" Dale looked at the RV sadly and shook his head. "I don't suppose we could find what I need from the other vehicles." Dale put his hands on his hips and squinted while taking in his surroundings.

"Probably not... But we sure as hell can find a lot more other things." Daryl said with a handful of clothes. He reached into the back of an SUV and started to scavenge.

"That's a good idea. We need to stock up on some supplies. Food, water, clothes, medicine, and weapons if possible." Rick said strapping his rifle around his back.

"Are you kidding?" Lori looked shocked. "This place is a grave yard..." she shivered and gave Rick a concerned look. "I... I don't know how I feel about this." Daryl shrugged and kept on putting items into his newly found back pack.

"Lori... we're running low on supplies." Audrey frowned and gave her famous puppy dog look. Lori sighed and gave in.

"Only the necessities." She said sternly. She grabbed Carl's hand and they went down a ways from the RV, Carol and Sophia following. Andrea shook her head and walked up into the RV.

"Stay within hearing distance. No one wanders off by themselves." Rick called out as the group split. Before Audrey ran off, Brad walked up to her and grabbed her shoulder.

"Audrey!" Brad gave her a concerned look. "I was worried about you..." Brad sighed seeing that she was still in one piece. He didn't really trust Daryl with Audrey. Hell, he didn't trust anyone when it came to Audrey.

"I'm fine Brad." Audrey smiled and gave him a quick hug.

"How's your arm?" Brad glanced down at the stitches.

"I need to get a new bandage and clean it up a bit. My bandage flew away while I was on a bike." She gave a sheepish smile and grabbed her arm lightly. "I actually like riding on it." Audrey looked up at Brad and giggled.

"Ahh, a rebel now?" He joked handing her an empty back pack. "Be safe. And don't collect things we don't need. Just because you want something-"

"Doesn't mean you need it. Yeah, yeah I know Brad." She rolled her eyes playfully before heading off to find Daryl and some supplies. Audrey slipped into the RV quickly to grab her duffle bag. She was surprised when she saw Andrea. "Oh! Hey Andrea." Audrey gave a small wave. Andrea didn't say anything. She just looked up from the gun she was working on and then back down. Audrey gave an awkward stare and shuffled away to the back of the RV to pick up her bag. "Do you need me to get anything while I'm out there?" Audrey asked Andrea before heading out of the RV.

"Only what's needed really..." Andrea said without looking up. Audrey frowned and headed out of the RV.

* * *

"Psst!" Audrey sneaked up behind Daryl. He turned quickly and aimed his crossbow at her face. She gasped and fell backward, startled. He sighed and lowered his weapon quickly.

"Jesus! Don't sneak up behind me like that girl!" Daryl breathed out. He extended his hand out to help her. Audrey took it and dusted herself off.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to scare you." Audrey blushed.

"I wasn't scared!" Daryl shot back avoiding eye contact.

"Well... I came to find you. I wanted to tell you thank you. You know... for saving my life." Audrey's face blossomed. She replayed the scene in her head. He had seen her naked. There wasn't a man on this planet who had seen her naked. She was embarrassed. She had words to say to Daryl and she hadn't had the time to discuss it with him since they fled the rest stop. She had thought about what to say the whole ride on the bike but now that she was at the point of discussion, she was dumbfounded.

"It was nothin..." Daryl's mind also replayed the scene in his head. He knew she had a nice figure, but he had never even imagined her naked. Now Audrey's nude body was seared into his brain, forever to remain in his memory. A good memory though... well, at least the part about her being naked. It had been a while since he even mustered up a dirty thought in his mind. His brain was on survival mode. He didn't even dwell on the thought of Audrey's body for too long. After all, the circumstances didn't really give him time to take it in and admire her.

"Yeah well... just so you know... about you know... me." Audrey choked on her words. "No one. Or, no man... has ever seen. You know... me like that?" Audrey wasn't even sure if she was making sense, but Daryl's face showed that he understood every word that was coming out of her mouth. Did that mean... Audrey was a virgin? Daryl thought curiously for a quick moment before swallowing hard. "Can we just keep that between you and me? No one needs to know I was naked for most of that. Especially Brad." Audrey's face was red as a tomato at this point.

All Daryl could do was nod. "Ok." He replied. He let out a quick breath and hucked his crossbow over his shoulder. At this point, Audrey wasn't sure if she should turn around and go her own way, stay put and watch him walk away, or follow him. Well, Rick did say to not wander off by yourself. She thought to herself. So she followed.

Daryl didn't mind the company, but Audrey couldn't tell if he enjoyed it either. Both of them had agreed to share the duffle bag, shoving things into the bag that Audrey needed and what Daryl himself needed, with the intent of later on sorting it out.

"That's the third first aid kit!" Audrey exclaimed happily. Daryl had a knack for finding first aid kits in her mind. He tossed it into the duffle bag and lifted it from Audrey's hands and placing it onto his shoulder. She blushed. She looked and felt so weak around him. Not like weak in the knees... but physically weak. He carried that duffle bag like no body's business, while Audrey felt it was so heavy she was dragging part of it on the ground.

Moments of silence had passed and the silence was killing her. So she thought it would be fun to ask meaningless questions. She tapped Daryl on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" He looked over and down at her.

"What's... your favorite color?" She asked him sheepishly. He snorted. He honestly wasn't expecting a question like that.

"Pfft. What are we in, middle school now? Why?" He asked giving a very faint smile. He looked at Audrey like she was silly for asking.

"I just wanted to know. Since we're going to be spending more time together..." She reached into an abandoned car and pulled out a pair of yoga pants and held it up to her waist before throwing it into the bag.

"Huh... well it's green." Daryl replied shoving a sweater into the bag and a couple of knives. "Not that it's any of your concern." He mumbled.

"Well you never know. When's your birthday? I'll get you something green. Like this!" Audrey joked and she tossed back a green handkerchief at him. It landed on the ground. It was clean and looked fairly new. He looked at her and saw that her back was turned. He smiled to himself and picked the handkerchief up placing it into his back pocket. Making sure Audrey didn't see. He followed her down the row of abandoned cars.

* * *

Audrey fell backwards and crawled on her hands and knees to avoid the walker coming to her. She had dropped the canned goods she was going to give to Daryl. She screamed as the walker came closer and reached for her leg. She felt it's hand grab onto her ankle and she kicked furiously to get free. The grip loosened when she heard a loud thud. Audrey looked behind her to see the walker with a bolt in it's head and Daryl aiming at it. She shook her leg free and ran up to Daryl.

"It... It came out of nowhere I-" Daryl placed a hand over her mouth and put a finger to his lips to signal her to stay quiet. He whispered in her ear.

"They're everywhere, we need to stay low, and stay quiet." Audrey nodded and Daryl took his hand off her mouth. He grabbed her hand and they weaved around the cars towards the RV, quickly avoiding the walkers. Audrey and Daryl noticed a fresh trail of blood. Her grip on Daryl's hand tightened as soon as she realized Daryl was following the blood. She was scared to what they were going to find at the end of the trail of blood. They turned around a big truck to see a walker heading towards T-Dog. Audrey kept herself from screaming as she saw T-Dog's arm and the amount of blood he was losing. Daryl dropped the bag and crossbow quietly and whipped out his knife, swiftly taking out the walker. He grabbed the walker and dragged T-Dog to the ground, placing the walker on top of him. He grabbed Audrey and laid on his back, pulling her on top of him, their faces squishing close together. Goosebumps and shivers went up and down her body as he gently placed a rotting corpse on top of them.

Audrey kept eye contact with Daryl the whole time. She clutched onto his shirt and she could feel his heart beat beating hard and fast. She was having an anxiety attack and Daryl noticed. Her eyes went wide when the walkers grew larger in numbers and walked by. She was worried one would notice and bite down into her. He took steady breaths to neutralize his heart pace. It seemed to help a little because when he started to calm down, so did she. Audrey chewed on her lip and waited for the shuffling of footsteps and the unconscious act of moaning and groaning of the walkers to settle and die down.

When things got quiet, Daryl pushed the corpse off of them and picked Audrey up. He rubbed her back in small comfort and ran towards T-Dog. He helped him up and looked at his arm. Audrey grabbed the first aid kit they found and worked quickly. Disinfecting the wound, and wrapping it up. It wasn't going to last for long. It needed much more care, but it'd have to do for now. The three of them maneuvered around the cars quietly and as quick as they could towards the RV. When they arrived, it looked like everyone had their share of walker issues.

Andrea was covered in blood and she was shaking with fear and disgust. Lori was holding Carol and Carl. Carol was crying, and apparently Sophia had run off with walkers behind her. Rick was no where to be seen. And Shane and Glenn was carrying out a walker from the RV. Probably the one Andrea had encountered.

"What happened?" Audrey asked. Brad ran up to Audrey and gave her a hug. They were all sweating fear, exhaustion, and over exposure to heat.

"Thank god you're okay. Jesus. What the hell was that?" Brad looked around and shook his head in disbelief. Carol ran up to Brad and Audrey.

"Oh Audrey. My baby is out there. There's two walkers after her! Brad please, help! Do something. My baby. She's just a kid!" Carol was freaking out. Lori came up behind her and put an arm around her shoulder.

"Don't worry. Rick is with her. She'll bring her back. He's going to do everything he can to do it okay sweetie?" Lori tried her best to comfort the woman.

Audrey frowned when she saw Rick running up the hill to the highway with no Sophia.

"Is she here?" Rick asked looking around. "Is Sophia here?" Everyone stared at him with a sad look. He look disappointed himself and he shook his head. "Alright. Glenn, Shane, and Daryl. I need you guys to come with me. We're going back in to look for her." The three men followed Rick and the disappeared into the woods.

"Oh God. Lori. What do I do? It'll be dark soon. What will she do?"

Audrey just stared at the group, sad and distressed. The world was spinning. Words started to muffle. Audrey's vision began to go blurry and then... black. Audrey had fallen backwards and smacked right onto the road. Her head cracked on the road and started to bleed.

"Audrey!" Brad picked her up and applied pressure on her head. "Oh God!" Dale and Andrea rushed to her and they helped Brad bring her into the RV. "Shit! What happened?!" Brad yelled at Audrey's unconscious body.

"She hasn't slept in so long Brad. She was on that bike the whole time. And all this stress. It must have gotten to her." Andrea washed her hands and grabbed the first aid kit. "Also, her wound might be infected. It hasn't been wrapped up." Andrea examined her arm. Brad sighed and sat back. Watching Andrea and Dale.

"God dammit. I'm the worst body guard ever." Brad placed his head in his hands and sighed.

"She'll make it brad. It just looks like a cut on her head. Nothing major. But we need to wake her ever thirty minutes. Just to make sure she's not going to fall into a coma. Do whatever you need to do to wake her up. You don't need a full sentence. Just any sign that she's aware of who you are and that she's awake will do." Dale explained. He finished bandaging her arm and head before washing up.

"What am I going to do..." Brad held Audrey's hand and looked down at her. "I'm so sorry Audrey."

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**A/N: **There you have it folks! Chapter 5! I'm so sorry it was short. But like I said, I don't have a lot of free time. I wanted it to be longer, but I busted this baby out in like an hour and a half! I thought it was going to be much shorter so I'm surprised I even got this far. I'll write as soon as I can. I'm soooo sorry. I will try my best. I would have made it longer, but I really wanted to publish something today. Once again, thank you for reading. Please follow and write some reviews. Some feed back would be GREAT!

I love you all. I'll be writing again as soon as possible! I promise!


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